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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
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THE  DELUGE 


DO  YOU  WANT  ME  TO  DESPISE  YOU  ?  "      Page  381 


THE  DELUGE 


By 
DAVID  GRAHAM  PHILLIPS 


Author  of 

The  Cost,  The  Plum  Tree, 
The  Social  Secretary,  etc. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

GEORGE  GIBBS 


NEW  YORK 

GROSSET  &  DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright  1905 
'  The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 


October 


H 


n 

3S3I 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  MR.  BLACKLOCK  i 

II  IN  THOSE  DAYS  AROSE  KINGS  4 

III  CAME  A  WOMAN  16 

IV  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  "RESPECTABILITY"  31 
V  DANGER  SIGNALS  42 

VI  OF  "GENTLEMEN"  55 

VII  BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING  62 

VIII  ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  LANGDON  76 

IX  LANGDON  AT  HOME  88 

X  TWO  "PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY"  IOI 

XI  WHEN  A  MAN  Is  NOT  A  MAN  113 

XII  ANITA  127 

XIII  "UNTIL  TO-MORROW"  14! 

XIV  FRESH  AIR  IN  A  GREENHOUSE  153 
XV  SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER  163 

XVI  TRAPPED  AND  TRIMMED  180 

XVII  A  GENTEEL  "HOLD-UP"  193 

XVIII  ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF  207 

XIX  A  WINDFALL  FROM  "GENTLEMAN  JOE"  231 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XX  A  BREATHING  SPELL  242 

XXI  MOST  UNLADYLIKE  247 

XXII  MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  261 

XXIII  "SHE  HAS  CHOSEN"  291 

j 

XXIV  BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS  307 
XXV  "MY  WIFE  MUST"  322 

XXVI  THE  WEAK  STRAND  330 

XXVII  A  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ANITA  347 

XXVIII  BLACKLOCK  SEES  A  LIGHT  359 

XXIX  A  HOUSEW ARMING  37* 

XXX  BLACKLOCK  OPENS  FIRE  382 

XXXI  ANITA'S  SECRET  395 

XXXII  LANGDON  COMES  TO  THE  SURFACE  409 

XXXIII  MRS.  LANGDON  MAKES  A  CALL  425 

XXXIV  "MY  RIGHT  EYE  OFFENDS  ME"  436 
XXXV  "WILD  WEEK"  449 

XXXVI  "BLACK  MATT'S"  TRIUMPH  461 


THE  DELUGE 


MR.    BLACKLOCK 

When  Napoleon  was  about  to  crown  himself  — 
so  I  have  somewhere  read  —  they  submitted  to 
him  the  royal  genealogy  they  had  faked  up  for 
him.  He  crumpled  the  parchment  and  flung  it 
in  the  face  of  the  chief  herald,  or  whoever  it 
was.  "  My  line,"  said  he,  "  dates  from  Monte- 
notte."  And  so  I  say,  my  line  dates  from  the 
campaign  that  completed  and  established  my 
fame  — from  "Wild  Week." 

I  shall  not  pause  to  recite  the  details  of  the 
obscurity  from  which  I  emerged.  It  would  be 
an  interesting,  a  romantic  story;  but  it  is  a 
familiar  story,  also,  in  this  land  which  Lincoln 
so  finely  and  so  fully  described  when  he  said: 
"  The  republic  is  opportunity." 

One  fact  only :  /  did  not  take  the  name  Black- 
lock. 

i 


2  THE  DELUGE 

I  was  born  Blacklock,  and  christened  Matthew ; 
and  my  hair's  being  very  black  and  growing  so 
that  a  lock  of  it  often  falls  down  the  middle  of 
my  forehead  is  a  coincidence.  The  malicious  and 
insinuating  story  that  I  used  to  go  under  another 
name  arose,  no  doubt,  from  my  having  been  a 
bootblack  in  my  early  days,  and  having  let  my 
customers  shorten  my  name  into  Matt  Black. 
But,  as  soon  as  I  graduated  from  manual  labor, 
I  resumed  my  rightful  name  and  have  borne  it  — 
I  think  I  may  say  without  vanity  —  in  honor  to 
honor. 

Some  one  has  written :  "  It  was  a  great  day 
for  fools  when  modesty  was  made  a  virtue." 
I  heartily  subscribe  to  that.  Life  means  action; 
action  means  self-assertion;  self-assertion  rouses 
all  the  small,  colorless  people  to  the  only  sort 
of  action  of  which  they  are  capable  —  to  sneer 
ing  at  the  doer  as  egotistical,  vain,  conceited, 
bumptious  and  the  like.  So  be  it!  I  have  an 
individuality,  aggressive,  restless  and,  like  all 
such  individualities,  necessarily  in  the  lime-light; 
I  have  from  the  beginning  lost  no  opportunity 
to  impress  that  individuality  upon  my  time.  Let 
those  who  have  nothing  to  advertise,  and  those 
less  courageous  and  less  successful  than  I  at 


MR.  BLACKLOCK  3 

advertisement,  jeer  and  spit.  I  ignore  them.  I 
make  no  apologies  for  egotism.  I  think, 
when  my  readers  have  finished,  they  will  de 
mand  none.  They  will  see  that  I  had  work  to 
do,  and  that  I  did  it  in  the  only  way  an  intelli 
gent  man  ever  tries  to  do  his  work  —  his  own 
*way,  the  way  natural  to  him! 

Wild  Week !  Its  cyclones,  rising  fury  on  fury 
to  that  historic  climax  of  chaos,  sing  their  mad 
song  in  my  ears  again  as  I  write.  But  I  shall  by 
no  means  confine  my  narrative  to  business  and 
finance.  Take  a  cross-section  of  life  anywhere, 
and  you  have  a  tangled  interweaving  of  the  ac 
tion  and  reaction  of  men  upon  men,  of  women 
upon  women,  of  men  and  women  upon  one 
another.  And  this  shall  be  a  cross-section  out 
of  the  very  heart  of  our  life  to-day,  with  its 
big  and  bold  energies  and  passions  —  the  swiftest 
and  intensest  life  ever  lived  by  the  human  race. 

To  begin : 


n 

IN  THOSE  DAYS  AROSE  KINGS 

Imagine  yourself  back  two  years  and  a  half 
before  Wild  Week,  back  at  the  time  when  the 
kings  of  finance  had  just  completed  their  appar 
ently  final  conquest  of  the  industries  of  the  coun 
try,  when  they  were  seating  themselves  upon 
thrones  encircled  by  vast  armies  of  capital  and 
brains,  when  all  the  governments  of  the  nation  — 
national,  state  and  city  —  were  prostrate  under 
their  iron  heels. 

You  may  remember  that  I  was  a  not  incon 
spicuous  figure  then.  Of  all  their  financial 
agents,  I  was  the  best-known,  the  most  trusted 
by  them,  the  most  believed  in  by  the  people.  I 
had  a  magnificent  suite  of  offices  in  the  building 
that  dominates  Wall  and  Broad  Streets.  Boston 
claimed  me  also,  and  Chicago;  and  in  Philadel 
phia,  New  Orleans,  St.  Louis,  San  Francisco,  in 
the  towns  and  rural  districts  tributary  to  the 
cities,  thousands  spoke  of  Blacklock  as  their 

4 


IN  THOSE  DAYS  AROSE  KINGS  e 

trusted  adviser  in  matters  of  finance.  My  ene 
mies  —  and  I  had  them,  numerous  and  venomous 
enough  to  prove  me  a  man  worth  while  —  my 
enemies  spoke  of  me  as  the  "  biggest  bucket-shop 
gambler  in  the  world." 

Gambler  I  was  —  like  all  the  other  manipu 
lators  of  the  markets.  But  "  bucket-shop "  I 
never  kept.  As  the  kings  of  finance  were  the 
representatives  of  the  great  merchants,  manu 
facturers  and  investors,  so  was  I  the  representa 
tive  of  the  masses,  of  those  who  wished  their 
small  savings  properly  invested.  The  power  of 
the  big  fellows  was  founded  upon  wealth  and  the 
brains  wealth  buys  or  bullies  or  seduces  into  its 
service;  my  power  was  founded  upon  the  hearts 
and  homes  of  the  people,  upon  faith  in  my  frank 
honesty. 

How  had  I  built  up  my  power?  By  recog 
nizing  the  possibilities  of  publicity,  the  chance 
which  the  broadcast  sowing  of  newspapers  and 
magazines  put  within  the  reach  of  the  individual 
man  to  impress  himself  upon  the  whole  country, 
upon  the  whole  civilized  world.  The  kings  of 
finance  relied  upon  the  assiduity  and  dexterity 
of  sundry  paid  agents,  operating  through  the 
stealthy,  clumsy,  old-fashioned  channels  for  the 


6  THE  DELUGE 

exercise  of  power.  I  relied  only  upon  myself;  I 
had  to  trust  to  no  fallible,  perhaps  traitorous,  un 
derstrappers  ;  through  the  megaphone  of  the  press 
I  spoke  directly  to  the  people. 

My  enemies  charge  that  I  always  have  been 
unscrupulous  and  dishonest.  So?  Then  how 
have  I  lived  and  thrived  all  these  years  in  the 
glare  and  blare  of  publicity? 

It  is  true,  I  have  used  the  "  methods  of  the 
charlatan "  in  bringing  myself  into  wide  public 
notice.  The  just  way  to  put  it  would  be  that 
I  have  used  for  honest  purposes  the  methods  of 
publicity  that  charlatans  have  shrewdly  appro 
priated,  because  by  those  means  the  public  can 
be  most  widely  and  most  quickly  reached.  Does 
good  become  evil  because  hypocrites  use  it  as  a 
cloak  ?  It  is  also  true  that  I  have  been  "  undig 
nified."  Let  the  stupid  cover  their  stupidity  with 
"  dignity."  Let  the  swindler  hide  his  schemings 
under  "  dignity."  I  am  a  man  of  the  people, 
not  afraid  to  be  seen  as  the  human  being  that 
I  am.  I  laugh  when  I  feel  like  it.  I  have 
no  sense  of  jar  when  people  call  me  "Matt." 
I  have  a  good  time,  and  I  shall  stay  young 
as  long  as  I  stay  alive.  Wealth  hasn't  made 
me  a  solemn  ass,  fenced  in  and  unapproach- 


IN  THOSE  DAYS  AROSE  KINGS  7 

able.  The  custom  of  receiving  obedience 
and  flattery  and  admiration  has  not  made  me  a 
turkey-cock.  Life  is  a  joke;  and  when  the  joke's 
on  me,  I  laugh  as  heartily  as  when  it's  on  the 
other  fellow. 

It  is  half-past  three  o'clock  on  a  May  afternoon ; 
a  dismal,  dreary  rain  is  being  whirled  through 
the  streets  by  as  nasty  a  wind  as  ever  blew  out 
of  the  east.  You  are  in  the  private  office  of  that 
"  king  of  kings,"  Henry  J.  Roebuck,  philan 
thropist,  eminent  churchman,  leading  citizen  and 

—  in  business  —  as  corrupt  a  creature  as  ever 
used  the  domino  of  respectability.    That  office  is 
on  the  twelfth  floor  of  the  Power  Trust  Building 

—  and  the  Power  Trust  is  Roebuck,  and  Roebuck 
is  the  Power  Trust.    He  is  seated  at  his  desk  and, 
thinking  I  do  not  see  him,  is  looking  at  me  witH 
an  expression  of  benevolent  and  melancholy  pity 

—  the  look  with  which  he  always  regarded  any 
one  whom  the  Roebuck  God  Almighty  had  com 
manded  Roebuck  to  destroy.     He  and  his  God 
were  in  constant  communication;  his  God  never 
did  anything  except  for  his  benefit,  he  never  did 
anything  except  on  the  direct  counsel  or  com 
mand  of  his  God.     Just  now  his  God  is  com 
manding  him  to  destroy  me,  his  confidential  agent 


g  THE  DELUGE 

in  shaping  many  a  vast  industrial  enterprise  and 
in  inducing  the  public  to  buy  by  the  million  its 
bonds  and  stocks. 

I  invited  the  angry  frown  of  the  Roebuck  God 
by  saying :  "  And  I  bought  in  the  Manasquale 
mines  on  my  own  account." 

"  On  your  own  account ! "  said  Roebuck. 
Then  he  hastily  effaced  his  involuntary  air  of  the 
engineer  startled  by  sight  of  an  unexpected  red 
light. 

:t  Yes,"  replied  I,  as  calm  as  if  I  were  not 
realizing  the  tremendous  significance  of  what  I 
had  announced.  "  I  look  to  you  to  let  me  partici 
pate  on  equal  terms." 

That  is,  I  had  decided  that  the  time  had  come 
for  me  to  take  my  place  among  the  kings  of 
finance.  I  had  decided  to  promote  myself  from 
agent  to  principal,  from  prime  minister  to  king 
—  I  must,  myself,  promote  myself,  for  in  this 
world  all  promotion  that  is  solid  comes  from 
within.  And  in  furtherance  of  my  object  I  had 
bought  this  group  of  mines,  control  of  which 
was  vital  to  the  Roebuck-Langdon-Melville  com 
bine  for  a  monopoly  of  the  coal  of  the  country. 

"  Did  not  Mr.  Langdon  commission  you  to 
buy  them  for  him  and  his  friends  ? "  inquired 


IN  THOSE  DAYS  AROSE  KINGS  9 

.Roebuck,  in  that  slow,  placid  tone  which  yet, 
for  the  attentive  ear,  had  a  note  in  it  like  the 
scream  of  a  jaguar  that  comes  home  and  finds 
its  cub  gone. 

"  But  I  couldn't  get  them  for  him,"  I  explained. 
"  The  owners  wouldn't  sell  until  I  engaged  that 
the  National  Coal  and  Railway  Company  was 
not  to  have  them." 

"  Oh,  I  see,"  said  Roebuck,  sinking  back  re 
lieved.  "  We  must  get  Browne  to  draw  up  some 
sort  of  perpetual,  irrevocable  power  of  attorney 
to  us  for  you  to  sign." 

"  But  I  won't  sign  it,"  said  I. 

Roebuck  took  up  a  sheet  of  paper  and  began 
to  fold  it  upon  itself  with  great  care  to  get  the 
edges  straight.  He  had  grasped  my  meaning; 
he  was  deliberating. 

"  For  four  years  now,"  I  went  on,  "  you  peo 
ple  have  been  promising  to  take  me  in  as  a  prin 
cipal  in  some  one  of  your  deals  —  to  give  me 
recognition  by  making  me  president,  or  chair 
man  of  an  executive  or  finance  committee.  I  am 
an  impatient  man,  Mr.  Roebuck.  Life  is  short, 
and  I  have  much  to  do.  So  I  have  bought  the 
Manasquale  mines  —  and  I  shall  hold  them." 

Roebuck  continued  to  fold  the  paper  upon  itself 


I0  THE  DELUGE 

until  he  had  reduced  it  to  a  short,  thick  strips 
This  he  slowly  twisted  between  his  cruel  fingers- 
until  it  was  in  two  pieces.  He  dropped  them,, 
one  at  a  time,  into  the  waste-basket,  then  smiled 
benevolently  at  me.  "  You  are  right,"  he  said. 
:t  You  shall  have  what  you  want.  You  have 
seemed  such  a  mere  boy  to  me  that,  in  spite  of 
your  giving  again  and  again  proof  of  what  you 
are,  I  have  been  putting  you  off.  Then,  too — " 
He  halted,  and  his  look  was  that  of  one  surveying 
delicate  ground. 

"The  bucket-shop?"  suggested  I. 

"  Exactly,"  said  he  gratefully.  "  Your  brok 
erage  business  has  been  invaluable  to  us. 
But  —  well,  I  needn't  tell  you  how  people  —  the 
men  of  standing  —  look  on  that  sort  of  thing." 

"  I  never  have  paid  any  attention  to  pompous 
pretenses,"  said  I,  "  and  I  never  shall.  My 
brokerage  business  must  go  on,  and  my  daily 
letters  to  investors.  By  advertising  I  rose;  by 
advertising  I  am  a  power  that  even  you  recog 
nize  ;  by  advertising  alone  can  I  keep  that  power." 

"You  forget  that  in  the  new  circumstances, 
you  won't  need  that  sort  of  power.  Adapt  your 
self  to  your  new  surroundings.  Overalls  for  the 
trench ;  a  business  suit  for  the  office." 


IN  THOSE  DAYS  AROSE  KINGS  IX 

"  I  shall  keep  to  my  overalls  for  the  present/' 
said  I.  "  They're  more  comfortable,  and " — 
here  I  smiled  significantly  at  him  — "  if  I  shed 
them,  I  might  have  to  go  naked.  The  first  prin 
ciple  of  business  is  never  to  give  up  what  you 
have  until  your  grip  is  tight  on  something  bet 
ter." 

"  No  doubt  you're  right, "  agreed  the  white- 
haired  old  scoundrel,  giving  no  sign  that  I  had 
fathomed  his  motive  for  trying  to  "  hint "  me 
out  of  my  stronghold.  "  I  will  talk  the  matter 
over  with  Langdon  and  Melville.  Rest  assured, 
my  boy,  that  you  will  be  satisfied."  He  got  up, 
put  his  arm  affectionately  round  my  shoulders. 
"  We  all  like  you.  I  have  a  feeling  toward  you 
as  if  you  were  my  own  son.  I  am  getting  old, 
and  I  like  to  see  young  men  about  me,  growing 
up  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  the  Lord's 
work  whenever  He  shall  call  me  to  my  re 
ward." 

It  will  seem  incredible  that  a  man  of  my 
shrewdness  and  experience  could  be  taken  in  by 
such  slimy  stuff  as  that  —  I  who  knew  Roebuck 
as  only  a  few  insiders  knew  him,  I  who  had  seen 
him  at  work,  as  devoid  of  heart  as  an  empty 
spider  in  an  empty  web.  Yet  I  was  taken  in  to 


12  THE  DELUGE 

the  extent  that  I  thought  he  really  purposed  to 
recognize  my  services,  to  yield  to  the  only  per 
suasion  that  could  affect  him  —  force.  I  fancied 
he  was  actually  about  to  put  me  where  I  could 
be  of  the  highest  usefulness  to  him  and  his  as 
sociates,  as  well  as  to  myself.  As  if  an  old 
man  ever  yielded  power  or  permitted  another  to 
gain  power,  even  though  it  were  to  his  own  great 
advantage.  The  avarice  of  age  is  not  open  to 
reason. 

It  was  with  tears  in  my  eyes  that  I  shook 
hands  with  him,  thanking  him  emotionally.  It 
was  with  a  high  chin  and  a  proud  heart  that  I 
went  back  to  my  offices.  There  wasn't  a  doubt  in 
my  mind  that  I  was  about  to  get  my  deserts,  was 
about  to  enter  the  charmed  circle  of  "  high 
finance." 

That  small  and  exclusive  circle,  into  which  I 
was  seeing  myself  admitted  without  the  usual 
arduous  and  unequal  battle,  was  what  may  be 
called  the  industrial  ring  —  a  loose,  yet  tight, 
combine  of  about  a  dozen  men  who  controlled 
in  one  way  or  another  practically  all  the  indus 
tries  of  the  country.  They  had  no  formal  agree 
ments  ;  they  held  no  official  meetings.  They  did 
not  look  upon  themselves  as  an  association. 


IN  THOSE  DAYS  AROSE  KINGS  ^ 

They  often  quarreled  among  themselves,  waged 
bitter  wars  upon  each  other  over  divisions  of 
power  or  plunder.  But,  in  the  broad  sense,  in 
the  true  sense,  they  were  an  association  —  a  band 
united  by  a  common  interest,  to  control  finance, 
commerce  and  therefore  politics;  a  band  united 
by  a  common  purpose,  to  keep  that  control  in 
as  few  hands  as  possible.  Whenever  there  was 
sign  of  peril  from  without  they  flung  away  dif 
ferences,  pooled  resources,  marched  in  full  force 
to  put  down  the  insurrection.  For  they  looked 
on  any  attempt  to  interfere  with  them  as  a  mu 
tiny,  as  an  outbreak  of  anarchy.  This  band  per 
sisted,  but  membership  in  it  changed,  changed 
rapidly.  Now,  one  would  be  beaten  to  death 
and  despoiled  by  a  clique  of  fellows;  again,  weak 
or  rash  ones  would  be  cut  off  in  strenuous  bat 
tle.  Often,  most  often,  some  too-powerful  or 
too-arrogant  member  would  be  secretly  and 
stealthily  assassinated  by  a  jealous  associate  or 
by  a  committee  of  internal  safety.  Of  course,  I 
do  not  mean  literally  assassinated,  but  assassin 
ated,  cut  off,  destroyed,  in  the  sense  that  a  man 
whose  whole  life  is  wealth  and  power  is  dead 
when  wealth  and  power  are  taken  from  him. 
Actual  assassination,  the  crime,  of  murder  — 


I4  THE  DELUGE 

these  "  gentlemen "  rarely  did  anything  which 
their  lawyers  did  not  advise  them  was  legal  or 
could  be  made  legal  by  bribery  of  one  kind  or 
another.  Rarely,  I  say  —  not  never.  You  will 
see  presently  why  I  make  that  qualification. 

I  had  my  heart  set  upon  membership  in  this 
band  —  and,  as  I  confess  now  with  shame,  my 
prejudices  of  self-interest  had  blinded  me  into 
regarding  it  and  its  members  as  great  and 
useful  and  honorable  "captains  of  industry." 
Honorable  in  the  main;  for,  not  even  my 
prejudice  could  blind  me  to  the  almost  hair-rais 
ing  atrocity  of  some  of  their  doings.  Still, 
morality  is  largely  a  question  of  environ 
ment.  I  had  been  bred  in  that  environment. 
Even  the  atrocities  I  excused  on  the  ground 
that  he  who  goes  forth  to  war  must  be  pre 
pared  to  do  and  to  tolerate  many  acts  the 
church  would  have  to  strain  a  point  to  bless. 
What  was  Columbus  but  a  marauder,  a  bucaneer  ? 
Was  not  Drake,  in  law  and  in  fact,  a  pirate; 
Washington  a  traitor  to  his  soldier's  oath  of  al 
legiance  to  King  George?  I  had  much  to  learn, 
and  to  unlearn.  I  was  to  find  out  that  when 
ever  a  Roebuck  puts  his  arm  round  you,  it  is 
invariably  to  get  within  your  guard  and  nearer 


IN  THOSE  DAYS  AROSE  KINGS  15 

your  fifth  rib.  I  was  to  trace  the  ugliest  de 
formities  of  that  conscience  of  his,  hidden  away 
down  inside  him  like  a  dwarfed,  starved  pris 
oner  in  an  underground  dungeon.  I  was  to  be 
astounded  by  revelations  of  Langdon,  who  was 
not  a  believer,  like  Roebuck,  and  so  was  not 
under  the  restraint  of  the  feeling  that  he  must 
keep  some  sort  of  conscience  ledgers  against  the 
inspection  of  the  angelic  auditing  committee  in 
the  day  of  wrath. 

Much  to  learn  —  and  to  unlearn.  It  makes 
me  laugh  as  I  recall  how,  on  that  May  day,  I 
looked  into  the  first  mirror  I  was  alone  with, 
smiled  delighted  as  an  idiot  with  myself  and 
said :  "  Matt,  you  are  of  the  kings  now.  Your 
crown  suits  you  and,  as  you've  earned  it,  you 
know  how  to  keep  it.  Now  for  some  fun  with 
your  subjects  and  your  fellow  sovereigns." 

A  little  premature,  that  preening! 


Ill 

CAME  A  WOMAN 

In  my  suite  in  the  Textile  Building,  just  off 
the  big  main  room  with  its  blackboards  and 
tickers,  I  had  a  small  office  in  which  I  spent  a 
good  deal  of  time  during  Stock  Exchange  hours. 
It  was  there  that  Sam  Ellersly  found  me  the 
next  day  but  one  after  my  talk  with  Roebuck. 

"  I  want  you  to  sell  that  Steel  Common,  Matt," 
said  he. 

"  It'll  go  several  points  higher,"  said  I.  "  Bet 
ter  let  me  hold  it  and  use  my  judgment  on  sell- 
ing." 

"I  need  money  —  right  away,"  was  his  an 
swer. 

"That's  all  right,"  said  I.  "Let  me  give 
you  an  order  for  what  you  need." 

"  Thank  you,  thank  you,"  said  he,  so  promptly 
that  I  knew  I  had  done  what  he  had  been  hoping 
for,  probably  counting  on. 

I  give  this  incident  to  show  what  our  rela- 
16 


CAME  A  WOMAN  !^ 

tions  were.  He  was  a  young  fellow  of  good 
family,  to  whom  I  had  taken  a  liking.  He  was  a 
lazy  dog,  and  as  out  of  place  in  business  as  a 
cat  in  a  choir.  I  had  been  keeping  him  going 
for  four  years  at  that  time,  by  giving  him  tips 
on  stocks  and  protecting  him  against  loss.  This 
purely  out  of  good  nature  and  liking;  for  I 
hadn't  the  remotest  idea  he  could  ever  be  of  use 
to  me  beyond  helping  to  liven  things  up  at  a  din 
ner  or  late  supper,  or  down  in  the  country,  or 
on  the  yacht.  In  fact,  his  principal  use  to  me 
was  that  he  knew  how  to  "  beat  the  box  "  well 
enough  to  shake  fairly  good  music  out  of  it  — 
and  I  am  so  fond  of  music  that  I  can  fill  in  with 
my  imagination  when  the  performer  isn't  too 
bad. 

They  have  charged  that  I  deliberately  ruined 
him.  Ruined!  The  first  time  I  gave  him  a  tip 
—  and  that  was  the  second  or  third  time  I  ever 
saw  him  —  he  burst  into  tears  and  said :  "  You've 
saved  my  life,  Blacklock.  I'll  never  tell  you 
how  much  this  windfall  means  to  me  now."  Nor 
did  I  with  deep  and  dark  design  keep  him  along 
on  the  ragged  edge.  He  kept  himself  there. 
How  could  I  build  up  such  a  man  with  his  hun 
dred  ways  of  wasting  money,  including  throw- 


jg  THE  DELUGE 

ing  it  away  on  his  own  opinions  of  stocks  —  for 
he  would  gamble  on  his  own  account  in  the 
bucket-shops,  though  I  had  shown  him  that  the 
Wall  Street  game  is  played  always  with  marked 
cards,  and  that  the  only  hope  of  winning  is  to 
get  the  confidence  of  the  card-markers,  unless 
you  are  big  enough  to  become  a  card-marker 
yourself. 

As  soon  as  he  got  the  money  from  my  teller 
that  day,  he  was  rushing  away.  I  followed  him 
to  the  door  —  that  part  of  my  suite  opened  out 
on  the  sidewalk,  for  the  convenience  of  my  crowds 
of  customers.  "  I'm  just  going  to  lunch,"  said  I. 
"  Come  with  me." 

He  looked  uneasily  toward  a  smart  little  one- 
horse  brougham  at  the  curb.  "  Sorry  —  but  I 
can't,"  said  he.  "  I've  my  sister  with  me.  She 
brought  me  down  in  her  trap." 

"  That's  all  right,"  said  I ;  "  bring  her  along. 
We'll  go  to  the  Savarin."  And  I  locked  his 
arm  in  mine  and  started  toward  the  brougham. 

He  was  turning  all  kinds  of  colors,  and  was 
acting  in  a  way  that  puzzled  me  —  then.  Despite 
all  my  years  in  New  York  I  was  ignorant  of  the 
elaborate  social  distinctions  that  had  grown  up 
in  its  Fifth  Avenue  quarter.  I  knew,  of  course, 


SHE  LOOKED  AS  STRAIGHT  AT  ME  AS  I  AT  HER      Page  20 


CAME  A  WOMAN  ig 

that  there  was  a  fashionable  society  and  that 
some  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  those  in  it 
seemed  unable  to  get  used  to  the  idea  of  being 
rich  and  were  in  a  state  of  great  agitation  over 
their  own  importance.  Important  they  might  be, 
but  not  to  me.  I  knew  nothing  of  their  careful 
gradations  of  snobbism  —  the  people  to  know  so 
cially,  the  people  to  know  in  a  business  way,  the 
people  to  know  in  ways  religious  and  philan 
thropic,  the  people  to  know  for  the  fun  to  be  got 
out  of  them,  the  people  to  pride  oneself  on  not 
knowing  at  all;  the  nervousness,  the  hysteria 
about  preserving  these  disgusting  gradations. 
All  this,  I  say,  was  an  undreamed-of  mystery  to 
me  who  gave  and  took  liking  in  the  sensible,  self- 
respecting  American  fashion.  So  I  didn't  under 
stand  why  Sam,  as  I  almost  dragged  him  along, 
was  stammering :  "  Thank  you  —  but  —  I  — • 
she  —  the  fact  is,  we  really  must  get  up-town." 

By  this  time  I  was  where  I  could  look  into  the 
brougham.  A  glance  —  I  can  see  much  at  a 
glance,  as  can  any  man  who  spends  every  day 
of  every  year  in  an  all-day  fight  for  his  purse 
and  his  life,  with  the  blows  coming  from  all  sides. 
I  can  see  much  at  a  glance;  I  often  have  seen 
much;  I  never  saw  more  than  just  then.  In- 


20  THE  DELUGE 

stantly,  I  made  up  my  mind  that  the  Ellerslys 
would  lunch  with  me.  "  You've  got  to  eat  some 
where/'  said  I,  in  a  tone  that  put  an  end  to  his 
attempts  to  manufacture  excuses.  "  I 11  be  de 
lighted  to  have  you.  Don't  make  up  any  more 
yarns." 

He  slowly  opened  the  door.  "  Anita,"  said  he, 
"  Mr.  Blacklock.  He's  invited  us  to  lunch." 

I  lifted  my  hat,  and  bowed.  I  kept  my  eyes 
straight  upon  hers.  And  it  gave  me  more  pleas 
ure  to  look  into  them  than  I  had  ever  before  got 
out  of  looking  into  anybody's.  I  am  passion 
ately  fond  of  flowers,  and  of  children;  and  her 
face  reminded  me  of  both.  Or,  rather,  it  seemed 
to  me  that  what  I  had  seen,  with  delight  and 
longing,  incomplete  in  their  freshness  and  beauty 
and  charm,  was  now  before  me  in  the  fullness. 
I  felt  like  saying  to  her,  "  I  have  heard  of  you 
often.  The  children  and  the  flowers  have  told  me 
you  were  coming."  Perhaps  my  eyes  did  say  it. 
At  any  rate,  she  looked  as  straight  at  me  as  I  at 
her,  and  I  noticed  that  she  paled  a  little  and 
shrank  —  yet  continued  to  look,  as  if  I  were 
compelling  her.  But  her  voice,  beautifully  clear, 
and  lingering  in  the  ears  like  the  resonance  of 
the  violin  after  the  bow  has  swept  its  strings  and 


CAME  A  WOMAN  21 

lifted,  was  perfectly  self-possessed,  as  she  said 
to  her  brother:  "That  will  be  delightful  —  if 
you  think  we  have  time." 

I  saw  that  she,  uncertain  whether  he  wished 
to  accept,  was  giving  him  a  chance  to  take  either 
course.  "He  has  time  —  nothing  but  time," 
said  I.  "  His  engagements  are  always  with  peo 
ple  who  want  to  get  something  out  of  him.  And 
they  can  wait."  I  pretended  to  think  he  was 
expecting  me  to  enter  the  trap;  I  got  in,  seated 
myself  beside  her,  said  to  Sam :  "  I've  saved  the 
little  seat  for  you.  Tell  your  man  to  take  us  to 
the  Equitable  Building  —  Nassau  Street  en 
trance." 

I  talked  a  good  deal  during  the  first  half  of 
the  nearly  two  hours  we  were  together  —  partly 
because  both  Sam  and  his  sister  seemed  under 
some  sort  of  strain,  chiefly  because  I  was  de 
termined  to  make  a  good  impression.  I  told 
her  about  myself,  my  horses,  my  house  in  the 
country,  my  yacht.  I  tried  to  show  her  I  wasn't 
an  ignoramus  as  to  books  and  art,  even  if  I  hadn't 
been  to  college.  She  listened,  while  Sam  sat 
embarrassed.  "  You  must  bring  your  sister 
down  to  visit  me/'  I  said  finally.  "  I'll  see  that 
you  both  have  the  time  of  your  lives.  Make  up 


22  THE  DELUGE 

a  party  of  your  friends,  Sam,  and  come  down  — • 
when  shall  we  say?  Next  Sunday?  You  know 
you  were  coming  anyhow.  I  can  change  the 
rest  of  the  party." 

Sam  grew  as  red  as  if  he  were  going  into 
apoplexy.  I  thought  then  he  was  afraid  I'd 
blurt  out  something  about  who  were  in  the  party 
I  was  proposing  to  change.  I  was  soon  to  know 
better. 

"  Thank  you,  Mr.  —  Blacklock/'  said  his  sis 
ter.  "  But  I  have  an  engagement  next  Sunday. 
I  have  a  great  many  engagements  just  now. 
Without  looking  at  my  book  I  couldn't  say  when 
I  can  go."  This  easily  and  naturally.  In  her 
set  they  certainly  do  learn  thoroughly  that  branch 
of  tact  which  plain  people  call  lying. 

Sam  gave  her  a  grateful  look,  which  he  thought 
I  didn't  see,  and  which  I  didn't  rightly  interpret 
—  then. 

"  We'll  fix  it  up  later,  Blacklock,"  said  he. 

"All  right,"  said  I.  And  from  that  minute 
I  was  almost  silent.  It  was  something  in  her 
tone  and  manner  that  silenced  me.  I  suddenly 
realized  that  I  wasn't  making  as  good  an  im 
pression  as  I  had  been  flattering  myself. 

When  a  man  has  money  and  is  willing  to  spend 


CAME  A  WOMAN  23 

it,  he  can  readily  fool  himself  into  imagining  he 
gets  on  grandly  with  women.  But  I  had  better 
grounds  than  that  for  thinking  myself  not  un 
attractive  to  them,  as  a  rule.  Women  had  liked 
me  when  I  had  nothing;  women  tiad  likefl  me 
when  they  didn't  know  who  I  was.  I  felt  that 
this  woman  did  not  like  me.  And  yet,  by  the 
way  she  looked  at  me  in  spite  of  her  efforts  not 
to  do  so,  I  could  tell  that  I  had  some  sort  of 
unusual  interest  for  her.  Why  didn't  she  like 
me?  She  made  me  feel  the  reason.  I  didn't 
belong  to  her  world.  My  ways  and  my  looks 
offended  her.  She  disliked  me  a  good  deal;  she 
feared  me  a  little.  She  would  have  felt  safer  if 
she  had  been  gratifying  her  curiosity,  gazing  in 
at  me  through  the  bars  of  a  cage. 

Where  I  had  been  feeling  and  showing  my 
usual  assurance,  I  now  became  ill  at  ease.  I 
longed  for  them  to  be  gone;  at  the  same  time 
I  hated  to  let  her  go  —  for,  when  and  how  would 
I  see  her  again,  would  I  get  the  chance  to  re 
move  her  bad  impression?  It  irritated  me  thus 
to  be  concerned  about  the  sister  of  a  man  into 
my  liking  for  whom  there  was  mixed  much  pity 
and  some  contempt.  But  I  am  of  the  disposi 
tion  that,  whenever  I  see  an  obstacle  of  what- 


24  THE  DELUGE 

ever  kind,  I  can  not  restrain  myself  from  trying 
to  jump  it.  Here  was  an  obstacle  —  a  dislike. 
To  clear  it  was  of  the  smallest  importance 
in  the  world,  was  a  silly  waste  of  time.  Yet  I 
felt  I  could  not  maintain  with  myself  my  boast 
that  there  were  no  obstacles  I  couldn't  get  over, 
if  I  turned  aside  from  this. 

Sam  —  not  without  hesitation,  as  I  recalled 
afterward — left  me  with  her,  when  I  sent  him 
to  bring  her  brougham  up  to  the  Broadway  en 
trance.  As  she  and  I  were  standing  there  alone, 
waiting  in  silence,  I  turned  on  her  suddenly,  and 
blurted  out,  "  You  don't  like  me." 

She  reddened  a  little,  smiled  slightly.  "  What 
a  quaint  remark !  "  said  she. 

I  looked  straight  at  her.     "  But  you  shall." 

Our  eyes  met.  Her  chin  came  out  a  little, 
her  eyebrows  lifted.  Then,  in  scorn  of  herself 
as  well  as  of  me,  she  locked  herself  in  behind 
a  frozen  haughtiness  that  ignored  me.  "  Ah, 
here  is  the  carriage,"  she  said.  I  followed  her 
to  the  curb;  she  just  touched  my  hand,  just 
nodded  her  fascinating  little  head. 

"  See  you  Saturday,  old  man,"  called  her 
brother  friendlily.  My  lowering  face  had 
alarmed  him. 


CAME  A  WOMAN  2e 

"That  party  is  off/'  said  I  curtly.  And  I 
lifted  my  hat  and  strode  away. 

As  I  had  formed  the  habit  of  dismissing  the 
disagreeable,  I  soon  put  her  out  of  my  mind. 
But  she  took  with  her  my  joy  in  the  taste-  of 
things.  I  couldn't  get  back  my  former  keen 
satisfaction  in  all  I  had  done  and  was  doing. 
The  luxury,  the  tangible  evidences  of  my  achieve 
ment,  no  longer  gave  me  pleasure;  they  seemed 
to  add  to  my  irritation. 

That's  the  way  it  is  in  life.  We  load  ourselves 
down  with  toys  like  so  many  greedy  children; 
then  we  see  another  toy  and  drop  everything 
to  be  free  to  seize  it;  and  if  we  can  not,  we're 
wretched. 

I  worked  myself  up,  or  rather,  down,  to  such 
a  mood  that  when  my  office  boy  told  me  Mr. 
Langdon  would  like  me  to  come  to  his  office  as 
soon  as  it  was  convenient,  I  snapped  out :  "  The 
hell  he  does!  Tell  Mr.  Langdon  I'll  be  glad  to 
see  him  here  whenever  he  calls."  That  was  stu 
pidity,  a  premature  assertion  of  my  right  to  be 
treated  as  an  equal.  I  had  always  gone  to  Lang 
don,  and  to  any  other  of  the  rulers  of  finance, 
whenever  I  had  got  a  summons.  For,  while  I 
was  rich  and  powerful,  I  held  both  wealth  and 


26  THE  DELUGE 

power,  in  a  sense,  on  sufferance;  I  knew  that,  so 
long  as  I  had  no  absolute  control  of  any  great 
department  of  industry,  these  rulers  could  de 
stroy  me  should  they  decide  that  they  needed 
my  holdings  or  were  not  satisfied  with  my  use 
of  my  power.  There  were  a  good  many  people 
who  did  not  realize  that  property  rights  had 
ceased  to  exist,  that  property  had  become  a  re 
vocable  grant  from  the  "  plutocrats."  I  was  not 
of  those  misguided  ones  who  had  failed  to  dis 
cover  the  new  fact  concealed  in  the  old  form. 
So  I  used  to  go  when  I  was  summoned. 

But  not  that  day.  However,  no  sooner  was 
my  boy  gone  than  I  repented  the  imprudence. 
"  But  what  of  it?  "  said  I  to  myself.  "  No  mat 
ter  how  the  thing*  turns  out,  I  shall  be  able  to 
get  some  advantage."  For  it  was  part  of  my 
philosophy  that  a  proper  boat  with  proper  sails 
and  a  proper  steersman  can  gain  in  any  wind.  I 
was  surprised  when  Langdon  appeared  in  my 
office  a  few  minutes  later. 

He  was  a  tallish,  slim  man,  carefully  dressed, 
with  a  bored,  weary  look  and  a  slow,  bored  way 
of  talking.  I  had  always  said  that  if  I  had  not 
been  myself  I  should  have  wished  to  be  Lang 
don.  Men  liked  and  admired  him ;  women  loved 


CAME  A  WOMAN  2/ 

and  ran  after  him.  Yet  he  exerted  not  the 
slightest  effort  to  please  any  one;  on  the  contrary, 
he  made  it  distinct  and  clear  that  he  didn't  care 
a  rap  what  any  one  thought  of  him  or,  for 
that  matter,  of  anybody  or  anything.  He  knew 
how  to  get,  without  sweat  or  snatching,  all  the 
good  there  was  in  whatever  fate  threw  in  his 
way  —  and  he  was  one  of  those  men  into  whose 
way  fate  seems  to  strive  to  put  everything  worth 
having.  His  business  judgment  was  shrewd,  but 
he  cared  nothing  for  the  big  game  he  was  play 
ing  except  as  a  game.  Like  myself,  he  was  sim 
ply  a  sportsman  —  and,  I  think,  that  is  why  we 
liked  each  other.  He  could  have  trusted  almost 
any  one  that  came  into  contact  with  him;  but  he 
trusted  nobody,  and  frankly  warned  every  one 
not  to  trust  him  —  a  safe  frankness,  for  his  charm 
caused  it  to  be  forgotten  or  ignored.  He  would 
do  anything  to  gain  an  object,  however  trivial, 
which  chanced  to  attract  him;  once  it  was  his, 
he  would  throw  it  aside  as  carelessly  as  an  ill- 
fitting  collar. 

His  expression,  as  he  came  into  my  office,  was 
one  of  cynical  amusement,  as  if  he  were  saying 
to  himself :  "  Our  friend  Blacklock  has  caught 
the  swollen  head  at  last."  Not  a  suggestion  of 


28  THE  DELUGE 

ill  humor,  of  resentment  at  my  impertinence — • 
for,  in  the  circumstances,  I  had  been  guilty  of  an 
impertinence.  Just  languid,  amused  patience 
with  the  frailty  of  a  friend.  "  I  see,"  said  he, 
"  that  you  have  got  Textile  up  to  eighty-five." 

He  was  the  head  of  the  Textile  Trust  which 
had  been  built  by  his  brother-in-law  and  had 
fallen  to  him  in  the  confusion  following  his 
brother-in-law's  death.  As  he  was  just  then 
needing  some  money  for  his  share  in  the  National 
Coal  undertaking,  he  had  directed  me  to  push 
Textile  up  toward  par  and  unload  him  of  two  or 
three  hundred  thousand  shares  —  he,  of  course,  to 
repurchase  the  shares  after  he  had  taken  profits 
and  Textile  had  dropped  back  to  its  normal  fifty. 

"  I'll  have  it  up  to  ninety-eight  by  the  middle 
of  next  month/'  said  I.  "  And  there  I  think  we'd 
better  stop." 

"  Stop  at  about  ninety,"  said  he.  "  That  will 
give  me  all  I  find  I'll  need  for  this  Coal  business. 
I  don't  want  to  be  bothered  with  hunting  up  an 
investment/' 

I  shook  my  head.  "  I  must  put  it  up  to  within 
a  point  or  two  of  par/'  I  declared.  "  In  my 
public  letter  I've  been  saying  it  would  go  above 
ninety-five,  and  I  never  deceive  my  public." 


CAME  A  .WOMAN  29 

He  smiled  —  my  notion  of  honesty  always 
amused  him.  "  As  you  please,"  he  said  with  a 
shrug.  Then  I  saw  a  serious  look  —  just  a  fleet 
ing  flash  of  warning — -behind  his  smiling  mask; 
and  he  added  carelessly :  "  Be  careful  about  your 
own  personal  play.  I  doubt  if  Textile  can  be  put 
any  higher." 

It  must  have  been  my  mood  that  prevented 
those  words  from  making  the  impression  on  me 
they  should  have  made.  Instead  of  appreciating 
at  once  and  at  its  full  value  this  characteristic 
and  amazingly  friendly  signal  of  caution,  I 
showed  how  stupidly  inattentive  I  was  by  saying : 
"Something  doing?  Something  new?*' 

But  he  had  already  gone  further  than  his  no 
tion  of  friendship  warranted.  So  he  replied: 
"  Oh,  no.  Simply  that  everything's  uncertain 
nowadays." 

My  mind  had  been  all  this  time  on  those 
Manasquale  mining  properties.  I  now  said: 
"  Has  Roebuck  told  you  that  I  had  to  buy  those 
mines  on  my  own  account  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  said.  He  hesitated,  and  again  he 
gave  me  a  look  whose  meaning  came  to  me  only 
when  it  was  too  late.  "  I  think,  Blacklock,  you'd 
better  turn  them  over  to  me." 


3o  THE  DELUGE 

"  I  can't,"  I  answered.     "  I  gave  my  word." 

"  As  you  please/'  said  he. 

Apparently  the  matter  didn't  interest  him.  He 
began  to  talk  of  the  performances  of  my  little 
two-year-old,  Beachcomber;  and  after  twenty 
minutes  or  so,  he  drifted  away.  "  I  envy  you 
your  enthusiasm,"  he  said,  pausing  in  my  door 
way.  "  Wherever  I  am,  I  wish  I  were  some 
where  else.  Whatever  I'm  doing,  I  wish  I  were 
doing  something  else.  Where  do  you  get  all 
this  joy  of  the  fight?  What  the  devil  are  you 
fighting  for?" 

He  didn't  wait  for  a  reply. 

I  thought  over  my  situation  steadily  for  sev 
eral  days.  I  went  down  to  my  country  place. 
I  looked  everywhere  among  all  my  belongings, 
searching,  searching,  restless,  impatient.  At  last 
I  knew  what  ailed  me  —  what  the  lack  was  that 
yawned  so  gloomily  from  everything  I  had  once 
thought  beautiful,  had  once  found  sufficient.  I 
was  in  the  midst  of  the  splendid,  terraced  pansy 
beds  my  gardeners  had  just  set  out;  I  stopped 
short  and  slapped  my  thigh.  "  A  woman ! "  I 
exclaimed.  "  That's  what  I  need.  A  woman  — 
the  right  sort  of  woman  —  a  wife !  " 


IV 


A   CANDIDATE  FOR   "  RESPECTABILITY  " 


To  handle  this  new  business  properly  I  must 
put  myself  in  position  to  look  the  whole  field 
over.  I  must  get  in  line  and  in  touch  with  "  re 
spectability."  When  Sam  Ellersly  came  in  for 
his  "  rations,"  I  said :  "  Sam,  I  want  you  to  put 
me  up  at  the  Travelers  Club." 

"The  Travelers!"  echoed  he,  with  a  blank 
look. 

"  The  Travelers,"  said  I.  "  It's  about  the  best 
of  the  big  clubs,  isn't  it?  And  it  has  as  mem 
bers  most  of  the  men  I  do  business  with  and 
most  of  those  I  want  to  get  into  touch  with." 

He  laughed.     "  It  can't  be  done." 

"Why  not?"  I  asked. 

"Oh  —  I  don't  know.  You  see  —  the  fact  is 
—  well,  they're  a  lot  of  old  fogies  up  there.  You 
don't  want  to  bother  with  that  push,  Matt.  Take 
my  advice.  Do  business  with  them,  but  avoid 
them  socially." 


32  THE  DELUGE 

"  I  want  to  go  in  there/'  I  insisted.  "  I  have 
my  own  reasons.  You  put  me  up." 

"  I  tell  you,  it'd  be  no  use,"  he  replied,  in  a 
tone  that  Implied  he  wished  to  hear  no  more 
of  the  matter. 

"  You  put  me  up,"  I  repeated.  "  And  if  you 
do  your  best,  I'll  get  in  all  right.  I've  got  lots 
of  friends  there.  And  you've  got  three  relatives 
in  the  committee  on  membership." 

At  this  he  gave  me  a  queer,  sharp  glance  — 
a  little  fright  in  it. 

I  laughed.  "  You  see,  I've  been  looking  into 
it,  Sam.  I  never  take  a  jump  till  I've  meas 
ured  it." 

"  You'd  better  wait  a  few  years,  until  — "  he 
began,  then  stopped  and  turned  red. 

"  Until  what?  "  said  I.  "  I  want  you  to  speak 
frankly." 

"  Well,  you've  got  a  lot  of  enemies  —  a  lot  of 
fellows  who've  lost  money  in  deals  you've  engi 
neered.  And  they'd  say  all  sorts  of  things." 

"  I'll  take  care  of  that,"  said  I,  quite  easy  in 
mind.  "  Mowbray  Langdon's  president,  isn't 
he?  Well,  he's  my  closest  friend."  I  spoke 
quite  honestly.  It  shows  how  simple-minded  I 
was  in  certain  ways  that  I  had  never  once  noted 


A  CANDIDATE  FOR  "  RESPECTABILITY 


33 


the  important  circumstance  that  this  "  closest 
friend"  had  never  invited  me  to  his  house,  or 
anywhere  where  I'd  meet  his  up-town  associates 
at  introducing  distance. 

Sam  looked  surprised.  "  Oh,  in  that  case," 
he  said,  "  I'll  see  what  can  be  done."  But  his 
tone  was  not  quite  cordial  enough  to  satisfy  me. 

To  stimulate  him  and  to  give  him  an  earnest 
of  what  I  intended  to  do  for  him,  when  our 
little  social  deal  had  been  put  through,  I  showed 
him  how  he  could  win  ten  thousand  dollars  in 
the  next  three  days.  "And  you  needn't  bother 
about  putting  up  margins,"  said  I,  as  I  often 
had  before.  "  I'll  take  care  of  that." 

He  stammered  a  refusal  and  went  out;  but 
he  came  back  within  an  hour,  and,  in  a  strained 
sort  of  way,  accepted  my  tip  and  my  offer. 

"That's  sensible,"  said  I.  "When  will  you 
attend  to  the  matter  at  the  Travelers?  I  want 
to  be  warned  so  I  can  pull  my  own  set  of  wires 
in  concert." 

"  I'll  let  you  know,"  he  answered,  hanging  his 
head. 

I  didn't  understand  his  queer  actions  then. 
Though  I  was  an  expert  in  finance,  I  Hadn't  yet 
made  a  study  of  that  other  game  — •  the  game  of 


34  THE  DELUGE 

"  gentleman."  And  I  didn't  know  how  seriously 
the  frauds  and  fakirs  who  play  it  take  it  and  them 
selves.  I  attributed  his  confusion  to  a  ridiculous 
mock  modesty  he  had  about  accepting  favors; 
it  struck  me  as  being  particularly  silly  on  this 
occasion,  because  for  once  he  was  to  give  as  well 
as  to  take. 

He  didn't  call  for  his  profits,  but  wrote  asking 
me  to  mail  him  the  check  for  them.  I  did  so, 
putting  in  the  envelop  with  it  a  little  jog  to  his 
memory  on  the  club  matter.  I  didn't  see  him 
again  for  nearly  a  month ;  and  though  I  searched 
and  sent,  I  couldn't  get  his  trail.  On  opening 
day  at  Morris  Park,  I  was  going  along  the  pas 
sage  behind  the  boxes  in  the  grand  stand,  on  my 
way  to  the  paddock.  I  wanted  to  see  my  horse 
that  was  about  to  run  for  the  Salmagundi  Sweep 
stakes,  and  to  tell  my  jockey  that  I'd  give  him 
fifteen  thousand,  instead  of  ten  thousand,  if  he 
won  —  for  I  had  put  quite  a  bunch  down.  I  was 
a  figure  at  the  tracks  in  those  days.  I  went  into 
racing  on  my  customary  generous  scale.  I  liked 
horses,  just  as  I  liked  everything  that  belonged 
out  under  the  big  sky ;  also  I  liked  the  advertising 
my  string  of  thoroughbreds  gave  me.  I  was  rich 
enough  to  be  beyond  the  stage  at  which  a  man 


A  CANDIDATE  FOR  "  RESPECTABILITY  "    35 

excites  suspicion  by  frequenting  race-tracks  and 
gambling-houses;  I  was  at  the  height  where 
prodigalities  begin  to  be  taken  as  evidences  of 
abounding  superfluity,  not  of  a  dangerous  profli 
gacy.  Jim  Harkaway,  who  failed  at  playing  the 
same  game  I  played  and  won,  said  to  me  with 
a  sneer  one  day :  "  You  certainly  do  know  how 
to  get  a  dollar's  worth  of  notoriety  out  of  a  dol 
lar's  worth  of  advertising." 

"  If  I  only  knew  that,  Jim,"  said  I,  "  I'd  have 
been  long  ago  where  you're  bound  for.  The 
trick  is  to  get  it  back  ten  for  one.  The  more  you 
advertise  yourself,  the  more  suspicious  of  you 
people  become.  The  more  money  I '  throw  away  ' 
in  advertising,  the  more  convinced  people  are  that 
I  can  afford  to  do  it." 

But,  as  I  was  about  to  say,  in  one  of  the  boxes 
I  spied  my  shy  friend,  Sammy.  He  was  looking 
better  than  I  had  ever  seen  him.  Less  heavy- 
eyed,  less  pallid  and  pasty,  less  like  a  man  who 
had  been  shirking  bed  and  keeping  up  on  cock 
tails  and  cold  baths.  He  was  at  the  rear  of 
the  box,  talking  with  a  lady  and  a  gentleman. 
As  soon  as  I  saw  that  lady,  I  knew  what  it  was 
that  had  been  hiding  at  the  bottom  of  my  mind 
and  rankling  there. 


36  THE  DELUGE 

Luckily  I  was  alone;  ever  since  that  lunchi 
I  had  been  cutting  loose  from  the  old  crowd — • 
from  all  its  women,  and  from  all  its  men  except 
two  or  three  real  friends  who  were  good  fellows 
straight  through,  in  spite  of  their  having  made 
the  mistake  of  crossing  the  dead  line  between 
amateur  "sport"  and  professional.  I  leaned 
over  and  tapped  Sammy  on  the  shoulder. 

He  glanced  round,  and  when  he  saw  me,  looked 
as  if  I  were  a  policeman  who  had  caught  him 
in  the  act. 

"  Howdy,  Sam?  "  said  I.  "  It's  been  so  long 
since  I've  seen  you  that  I  couldn't  resist  the  temp 
tation  to  interrupt.  Hope  your  friends' 11  excuse 
me.  Howdy  do,  Miss  Ellersly?"  And  I  put 
out  my  hand. 

She  took  it  reluctantly.  She  was  giving  me 
a  very  unpleasant  look  —  as  if  she  were  seeing, 
not  somebody,  but  some  thing  she  didn't  care  to 
see,  or  were  seeing  nothing  at  all.  I  liked  that 
look;  I  liked  the  woman  who  had  it  in  her  to 
give  it.  She  made  me  feel  that  she  was  difficult 
and  therefore  worth  while,  and  that's  what  all 
we  human  beings  are  in  business  for  —  to  make 
each  other  feel  that  we're  worth  while. 

"Just  a  moment,"  said  Sam,  red  as  a  cran- 


A  CANDIDATE  FOR  "RESPECTABILITY"    37 

berry  and  stuttering.  And  he  made  a  motion  to 
come  out  of  the  box  and  join  me.  At  the  same 
time  Miss  Anita  and  the  other  fellow  began  to 
turn  away. 

But  I  was  not  the  man  to  be  cheated  in  that 
fashion.  I  wanted  to  see  her,  and  I  compelled 
her  to  see  it  and  to  feel  it.  "  Don't  let  me  take 
you  from  your  friends,"  said  I  to  Sammy. 
"  Perhaps  they'd  like  to  come  with  you  and  me 
down  to  look  at  my  horse.  I  can  give  you  a 
good  tip  —  he's  bound  to  win.  I've  had  my 
boys  out  on  the  rails  every  morning  at  the  trials 
of  all  the  other  possibilities.  None  of  'em's  in 
it  with  Mowghli." 

"  Mowghli !  "  said  the  young  lady  —  she  had 
begun  to  turn  toward  me  as  soon  as  I  spoke  the 
magic  word,  "  tip."  There  may  be  men  who  can 
resist  that  word  "tip"  at  the  race-track,  but 
there  never  was  a  woman. 

"  My  sister  has  to  stay  here,"  said  Sammy 
hurriedly.  "  I'll  go  with  you,  Blacklock." 

All  this  time  he  was  looking  as  if  he  were 
doing  something  he  ought  to  be  ashamed  of.  I 
thought  then  he  was  ashamed  because  he,  pro 
fessing  to  be  a  gentleman,  had  been  neglecting 
his  debt  of  honor.  I  now  know  he  was  ashamed 


3g  THE  DELUGE 

because  he  was  responsible  for  his  sister's  being 
contaminated  by  contact  with  such  a  man  as  II 
I  who  hadn't  a  dollar  that  wasn't  honestly  earned ; 
I  who  had  made  a  fortune  by  my  own  efforts, 
and  was  spending  my  millions  like  a  prince;  I 
who  had  taste  in  art  and  music  and  in  architecture 
and  furnishing  and  all  the  fine  things  of  life. 
Above  all,  I  who  had  been  his  friend  and  bene 
factor.  He  knew  I  was  more  of  a  gentleman 
than  he  could  ever  hope  to  be,  he  with  no  ability 
at  anything  but  spending  money;  he  a  sponge 
and  a  cadger,  yes,  and  a  welcher  —  for  wasn't 
he  doing  his  best  to  welch  me?  But  just  be 
cause  a  lot  of  his  friends,  jealous  of  my  success 
and  angry  that  I  refused  to  truckle  to  them  and 
be  like  them  instead  of  like  myself,  sneered  at 
me  —  behind  my  back  —  this  poor-spirited  crea 
ture  was  daring  to  pretend  to  himself  that  I 
wasn't  fit  for  the  society  of  his  sister ! 

"Mowghli!"  said  Miss  Ellersly.  "What  a 
quaint  name ! " 

"  My  trainer  gave  it,"  said  I.  "  I've  got  a 
second  son  of  one  of  those  broken-down  English 
noblemen  at  the  head  of  my  stables.  He's  try 
ing  to  get  money  enough  together  to  be  able  to 
show  up  at  Newport  and  take  a  shy  at  an  heiress.'* 


A  CANDIDATE  FOR  "  RESPECTABILITY  "    39 

At  this  the  fellow  who  was  fourth  in  our  party, 
and  who  had  been  giving  me  a  nasty,  glassy 
stare,  got  as  red  as  was  Sammy.  Then  I  noticed 
that  he  was  an  Englishman,  and  I  all  but  chuck 
led  with  delight  However,  I  said,  "  No  offense 
intended,"  and  clapped  him  on  the  shoulder  with 
.a  friendly  smile.  "  He's  a  good  fellow,  my 
man  Monson,  and  knows  a  lot  about  horses." 

Miss  Ellersly  bit  her  lip  and  colored,  but  I  no 
ticed  also  that  her  eyes  were  dancing. 

Sam  introduced  the  Englishman  to  me  —  Lord 
Somebody-or-other,  I  forget  what,  as  I  never  saw 
him  again.  I  turned  like  a  bulldog  from  a  toy 
terrier  and  was  at  Miss  Ellersly  again.  "  Let 
me  put  a  little  something  on  Mowghli  for  you," 
said  I.  "  You're  bound  to  win  —  and  I'll  see 
that  you  don't  lose.  I  know  how  you  ladies  hate 
to  lose." 

That  was  a  bit  stiff,  as  I  know  well  enough 
.now.  Indeed,  my  instinct  would  have  told  me 
better  then,  if  I  hadn't  been  so  used  to  the  sort 
of  women  that  jump  at  such  an  offer,  and  if  I 
hadn't  been  casting  about  so  desperately  and  in 
such  confusion  for  some  way  to  please  her.  At 
any  rate,  I  hardly  deserved  her  sudden  frozen 
look.  "  I  beg  pardon,"  I  stammered,  and  I  think 


40  THE  DELUGE 

my  look  at  her  must  have  been  very  humble  — 
for  me. 

The  others  in  the  box  were  staring  round  at 
us.  "  Come  on,"  cried  Sam,  'dragging  at  my 
arm,  "  let's  go." 

"Won't  you  come?"  I  said  to  his  sister.  I 
shouldn't  have  been  able  to  keep  my  state  of 
mind  out  of  my  voice,  if  I  had  tried.  And  I 
didn't  try. 

Trust  the  right  sort  of  woman  to  see  the  right 
sort  of  thing  in  a  man  through  any  and  all  kinds 
of  barriers  of  caste  and  manners  and  breeding. 
Her  voice  was  much  softer  as  she  said :  "  I  think 
I  must  stay  here.  Thank  you,  just  the  same." 

As  soon  as  Sam  and  I  were  alone,  I  apologized. 
"  I  hope  you'll  tell  your  sister  I'm  sorry  for  that 
break,"  said  I. 

"  Oh,  that's  all  right,"  he  answered,  easy  again, 
now  that  we  were  away  from  the  others.  "  You 
meant  well  —  and  motive's  the  thing." 

"  Motive  —  hell !  "  cried  I  in  my  anger  at  my 
self.  "  Nobody  but  a  man's  God  knows  his  mo 
tives;  he  doesn't  even  know  them  himself.  I 
judge  others  by  what  they  do,  and  I  expect  to  be 
judged  in  the  same  way.  I  see  I've  got  a  lot  to 
learn."  Then  I  suddenly  remembered  the  Trav- 


A  CANDIDATE  FOR  "  RESPECTABILITY  "    41 

elers  Club,  and  asked  him  what  he'd  done  about 
it. 

"I  —  I've  been  —  thinking  it  over,"  said  he. 
"  Are  you  sure  you  want  to  run  the  risk  of  an 
ugly  cropper,  Matt  ?  " 

I  turned  him  round  so  that  we  were  facing 
each  other.  "  Do  you  want  to  do  me  that  favor, 
or  don't  you  ?  "  I  demanded. 

"  I'll  do  whatever  you  say,"  he  replied.  "  I'm 
thinking  only  of  your  interests." 

"  Let  me  take  care  of  them''  said  I.  "  You 
put  me  up  at  that  club  to-morrow.  I'll  send  you 
the  name  of  a  seconder  not  later  than  noon." 

"  Up  goes  your  name,"  he  said.  "  But  don't 
blame  me  for  the  consequences." 

And  my  name  went  up,  with  Mowbray  Lang- 
don's  brother,  Tom,  as  seconder.  Every  news 
paper  in  town  published  the  fact,  most  of  them 
under  big  black  headlines.  "  The  fun's  about  to 
begin,"  thought  I,  as  I  read.  And  I  was  right, 
though  I  hadn't  the  remotest  idea  how  big  a  ball 
I  had  opened 


V 

DANGER  SIGNALS 

At  that  time  I  did  not  myself  go  over  the  bills 
before  the  legislatures  of  those  states  in  which  I 
had  interests.  I  trusted  that  work  to  my  lawyers 
—  and,  like  every  man  who  ever  absolutely 
trusted  an  important  division  of  his  affairs  to 
another,  I  was  severely  punished.  One  morning 
my  eye  happened  to  light  upon  a  minor  para 
graph  in  a  newspaper  —  a  list  of  the  "  small  bills 
yesterday  approved  by  the  governor."  In  the 
list  was  one  "  defining  the  power  of  sundry  com 
missions."  Those  words  seemed  to  me  somehow 
to  spell  "  joker."  But  why  did  I  call  up  my  law 
yers  to  ask  them  about  it?  It's  a  mystery  to  me. 
All  I  know  is  that,  busy  as  I  was,  something 
inside  me  compelled  me  to  drop  everything  else 
and  hunt  that  "  joker  "  down. 

I  got  Saxe  —  then  senior  partner  in  Browne, 
Saxe  and  Einstein  —  on  the  'phone,  and  said: 
"  Just  see  and  tell  me,  will  you,  what  is  the  '  bill 

42 


DANGER  SIGNALS  43 

defining  the  power  of  sundry  commissions  ' —  the 
bill  the  governor  signed  yesterday  ?  " 

"  Certainly,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  came  the  answer. 
My  nerves  are,  and  always  have  been,  on  the 
watchout  for  the  looks  and  the  tones  and  the 
gestures  that  are  just  a  shade  off  the  natural ;  and 
I  feel  that  I  do  Saxe  no  injustice  when  I  say  his 
tone  was,  not  a  shade,  but  a  full  color,  off  the 
natural.  So  I  was  prepared  for  what  he  said 
when  he  returned  to  the  telephone.  "  I'm  sorry, 
Mr.  Blacklock,  but  we  seem  unable  to  lay  our 
hands  on  that  bill  at  this  moment." 

"Why  not?"  said  I,  in  the  tone  that  makes 
an  employee  jump  as  if  a  whip-lash  had  cut  him 
on  the  calves. 

He  had  jumped  all  right,  as  his  voice  showed. 
"  It's  not  in  our  file,"  said  he.  "  It's  House  Bill 
No.  427,  and  it's  apparently  not  here." 

"  The  hell  you  say !  "  I  exclaimed.     "  Why  ?  " 

"  I  really  can't  explain,"  he  pleaded,  and  the 
frightened  whine  confirmed  my  suspicion. 

"  I  guess  not,"  said  I,  making  the  words  sig 
nificant  and  suggestive.  "  And  you're  in  my  pay 
to  look  after  such  matters!  But  you'll  have  to 
explain,  if  this  turns  out  to  be  serious." 

"  Apparently  our  file  of  bills  is  complete  except 


44 


THE  DELUGE 


that  one,"  he  went  on.  "  I  suppose  it  was  lost 
in  the  mail,  and  I  very  stupidly  didn't  notice  the 
gap  in  the  numbers." 

"  Stupid  isn't  the  word  I'd  use,"  said  I,  with 
a  laugh  that  wasn't  of  the  kind  that  cheers.  And 
I  rang  off  and  asked  for  the  state  capitol  on  the 
"  long  distance." 

Before  I  got  my  connection  Saxe,  whose  office 
was  only  two  blocks  away,  came  flustering  in. 
"  The  boy  has  been  discharged,  Mr.  Blacklock," 
he  began. 

"  What  boy?"  said  I. 

"  The  boy  in  charge  of  the  bill  file  —  the  boy 
whose  business  it  was  to  keep  the  file  complete." 

"  Send  him  to  me,  you  damned  scoundrel,"  said 
I.  "  I'll  give  him  a  job.  .What  do  you  take 
me  for,  anyway?  And  what  kind  of  a  cowardly 
hound  are  you  to  disgrace  an  innocent  boy  as  a 
cover  for  your  own  crooked  work  ?  " 

"  Really,  Mr.  Blacklock,  this  is  most  extraor 
dinary,"  he  expostulated. 

"Extraordinary?  I  call  it  criminal,"  I  re 
torted.  "  Listen  to  me.  You  look  after  the  legisla 
tion  calendars  for  me,  and  for  Liangdon,  and  for 
Roebuck,  and  for  Melville,  and  for  half  a  dozen 
others  of  the  biggest  financiers  in  the  country. 


DANGER  SIGNALS  45 

It's  the  most  important  work  you  do  for  us.  Yet 
you,  as  shrewd  and  careful  a  lawyer  as  there  is 
at  the  bar,  want  me  to  believe  you  trusted  that 
work  to  a  boy !  If  you  did,  you're  a  damn  fool. 
If  you  didn't,  you're  a  damn  scoundrel.  There's 
no  more  doubt  in  my  mind  than  in  yours  which 
of  those  horns  has  you  sticking  on  it." 

"  You  are  letting  your  quick  temper  get  away 
with  you,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  he  deprecated. 

"  Stop  lying !  "  I  shouted,  "  I  knew  you  had 
been  doing  some  skulduggery  when  I  first  heard 
your  voice  on  the  telephone.  And  if  I  needed  any 
proof,  the  meek  way  you've  taken  my  abuse  would 
furnish  it,  and  to  spare." 

Just  then  the  telephone  bell  rang  and  I  got 
the  right  department  and  asked  the  clerk  to  read 
House  Bill  427.  It  contained  five  short  para 
graphs.  The  "  joker  "  was  in  the  third,  which 
gave  the  State  Canal  Commission  the  right  "  to 
institute  condemnation  proceedings,  and  to  con 
demn,  and  to  abolish,  any  canal  not  exceeding 
thirty  miles  in  length  and  not  a  part  of  the  con 
nected  canal  system  of  the  state." 

When  I  hung  up  the  receiver  I  was  so  absorbed 
that  I  had  forgotten  Saxe  was  waiting. 
He  made  some  slight  sound.  I  wheeled  on 


46  THE  DELUGE 

him.  I  needed  a  vent.  If  he  hadn't  been 
there  I  should  have  smashed  a  chair.  But 
there  was  he  —  and  I  kicked  him  out  of  my  pri 
vate  office  and  would  have  kicked  him  out 
through  the  anteroom  into  the  outer  hall,  had  he 
not  gathered  himself  together  and  run  like  a 
jack-rabbit. 

Since  that  day  I  have  done  my  own  calendar 
watching. 

By  this  incident  I  do  not  mean  to  suggest  that 
there  are  not  honorable  men  in  the  legal  profes 
sion.  Most  of  them  are  men  of  the  highest 
honor,  as  are  most  business  men,  most  persons  of 
consequence  in  every  department  of  life.  But 
you  don't  look  for  character  in  the  proprietors, 
servants,  customers  and  hangers-on  of  dives.  No 
more  ought  you  to  look  for  honor  among  any 
of  the  people  that  have  to  do  with  the  big  gilded 
dive  of  the  dollarocracy.  They  are  there  to  gam 
ble,  and  to  prostitute  themselves.  The  fact  that 
they  look  like  gentlemen  and  have  the  manners 
and  the  language  of  gentlemen  ought  to  de 
ceive  nobody  but  the  callow  chaps  of  the  sort 
that  believes  the  swell  gambler  is  "  an  honest  fel 
low  "  and  a  "  perfect  gentleman  otherwise,"  be 
cause  he  wears  a  dress  suit  in  the  evening  and 


DANGER  SIGNALS  47 

is  a  judge  of  books  and  pictures.  Lawyers  are 
the  doorkeepers  and  the  messengers  of  the  big 
dive;  and  these  lawyers,  though  they  stand  the 
highest  and  get  the  biggest  fees,  are  just  what 
you  would  expect  human  beings  to  be  who  ex 
pose  themselves  to  such  temptations,  and  yield 
whenever  they  get  an  opportunity,  as  eager  and 
as  compliant  as  a  cocotte. 

My  lawyers  had  sold  me  out;  I,  fool  that  I 
was,  had  not  guarded  the  only  weak  plate  in  my 
armor  against  my  companions  —  the  plate  over 
my  back,  to  shed  assassin  thrusts.  Roebuck  and 
Langdon  between  them  owned  the  governor;  he 
owned  the  Canal  Commission;  my  canal,  which 
gave  me  access  to  tide-water  for  the  product  of 
my  Manasquale  mines,  was  as  good  as  closed. 
I  no  longer  had  the  whip-hand  in  National  Coal. 
The  others  could  sell  me  out  and  take  two-thirds 
of  my  fortune,  whenever  they  liked  —  for  of  what 
use  were  my  mines  with  no  outlet  now  to  any 
market,  except  the  outlets  the  coal  crowd  owned  ? 

As  soon  as  I  had  thought  the  situation  out  in 
all  its  bearings,  I  realized  that  there  was  no  es 
cape  for  me  now,  that  whatever  chance  to  es 
cape  I  might  have  had  was  closed  by  my  uncov 
ering  to  Saxe  and  kicking  him.  But  I  did  not 


4g  THE  DELUGE 

regret;  it  was  worth  the  money  it  would  cost 
me.  Besides,  I  thought  I  saw  Low  I  could  later 
on  turn  it  to  good  account.  A  sensible  man 
never  makes  fatal  errors.  Whatever  he  does  is 
at  least  experience,  and  can  also  be  used  to  ad 
vantage.  If  Napoleon  hadn't  been  half  dead  at 
Waterloo,  I  don't  doubt  he  would  have  used  its 
disaster  as  a  means  to  a  greater  victory. 

Was  I  downcast  by  the  discovery  that  those 
bandits  had  me  apparently  at  their  mercy?  Not 
a  bit.  Never  in  my  life  have  I  been  downcast 
over  money  matters  more  than  a  few  minutes. 
Why  should  I  be?  Why  should  any  man  be 
who  has  made  himself  all  that  he  is?  As  long 
as  his  brain  is  sound,  his  capital  is  unimpaired. 
When  I  walked  into  Mowbray  Langdon's  office, 
I  was  like  a  thoroughbred  exercising  on  a  clear 
frosty  morning;  and  my  smile  was  as  fresh  as 
the  flower  in  my  buttonhole.  I  thrust  out  my 
hand  at  him.  "  I  congratulate  you/'  said  I. 

He  took  the  proffered  hand  with  a  questioning 
look. 

"  On  what?  "  said  he.  It  is  hard  to  tell  from 
his  face  what  is  going  on  in  his  head,  but  I  think 
I  guessed  right  when  I  decided  that  Saxe  hadn't 
yet  warned  him. 


DANGER  SIGNALS  49 

"I  have  just  found  out  from  Saxe,"  I, pur 
sued,  "  about  the  Canal  Bill." 

"  What  Canal  Bill?  "  he  asked. 

"  That  puzzled  look  was  a  mistake,  Langdon," 
said  I,  laughing  at  him.  "  When  you  don't 
know  anything  about  a  matter,  you  look  merely 
blank.  You  overdid  it;  you've  given  yourself 
away." 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  As  you  please," 
said  he.  'As  you  please  was  his  favorite  expres 
sion;  a  stereotyped  irony,  for  in  dealing  with 
him,  things  were  never  as  you  pleased,  but  al 
ways  as  Jie  pleased. 

"  Next  time  you  want  to  dig  a  mine  under  any 
body,"  I  went  on,  "  don't  hire  Saxe.  Really  I 
feel  sorry  for  you  —  to  have  such  a  clever  scheme 
messed  by  such  an  ass." 

"  If  you  don't  mind,  I'd  like  to  know  what 
you're  talking  about,"  said  he,  with  his  patient, 
bored  look. 

"As  you  and  Roebuck  own  the  governor,  I 
know  your  little  law  ends  my  little  canal." 

"  Still  I  don't  know  what  you're  talking  about," 
drawled  he.  "  You  are  always  suspecting  ev 
erybody  of  double-dealing.  I  gather  that  this  is 
another  instance  of  your  infirmity.  Really, 


t;o  THE  DELUGE 

Blacklock,  the  world  isn't  wholly  made  up  of 
scoundrels." 

"  I  know  that,"  said  I.  "  And  I  will  even  ad 
mit  that  its  scoundrels  are  seldom  made  up  wholly 
of  scoundrelism.  Even  Roebuck  would  rather  do 
the  decent  thing,  if  he  can  do  it  without  endan 
gering  his  personal  interests.  As  for  you  —  I  re 
gard  you  as  one  of  the  decentest  men  I  ever 
knew  —  outside  of  business.  And  even  there,  I 
believe  you'd  keep  your  word,  as  long  as  the 
other  fellow  kept  his." 

"  Thank  you,"  said  he,  bowing  ironically. 
"  This  flattery  makes  me  suspect  you've  come  to 
get  something." 

"  On  the  contrary,"  said  I.  "  I  want  to  give 
something.  I  want  to  give  you  my  coal  mines." 

"  I  thought  you'd  see  that  our  offer  was  fair," 
said  he.  "  And  I'm  glad  you  have  changed  your 
mind  about  quarreling  with  your  best  friends. 
We  can  be  useful  to  you,  you  to  us.  A  break 
would  be  silly." 

"  That's  the  way  it  looks  to  me,"  I  assented. 
And  I  decided  that  my  sharp  talk  to  Roebuck 
had  set  them  to  estimating  my  value  to  them. 

"  Sam  Ellersly,"  Langdon  presently  remarked, 
"  tells  me  he's  campaigning  hard  for  you  at  the 


DANGER  SIGNALS  51 

Travelers.  I  hope  you'll  make  it.  We're  rather 
a  slow  crowd;  a  few  men  like  you  might  stir 
things  up." 

I  am  always  more  than  willing  to  give  others 
credit  for  good  sense  and  good  motives.  It  was 
not  vanity,  but  this  disposition  to  credit  others 
with  sincerity  and  sense,  that  led  me  to  believe 
him,  both  as  to  the  Coal  matter  and  as  to  the 
Travelers  Club.  "  Thanks,  Langdon,"  I  said; 
and  that  he  might  look  no  further  for  my  motive, 
I  added :  "  I  want  to  get  into  that  club  much  as 
the  winner  of  a  race  wants  the  medal  that  be 
longs  to  him.  I've  built  myself  up  into  a  rich 
man,  into  one  of  the  powers  in  finance,  and  I  feel 
I'm  entitled  to  recognition." 

"  I  don't  quite  follow  you/'  he  said.  "  I  can't 
see  that  you'll  be  either  better  or  worse  for  get 
ting  into  the  Travelers." 

"  No  more  I  shall/'  replied  I.  "  No  more  is 
the  winner  of  the  race  the  better  or  the  worse  for 
having  the  medal.  But  he  wants  it." 

He  had  a  queer  expression.  I  suppose  he  re 
garded  it  as  a  joke,  my  attaching  apparently  so 
much  importance  to  a  thing  he  cared  nothing 
about.  "  You've  always  had  that  sort  of  thing," 
said  I,  "  and  so  you  don't  appreciate  it.  You're 


52  THE  DELUGE 

like  a  respectable  woman.  She  can't  imagine 
what  all  the  fuss  over  women  keeping  a  good  rep 
utation  is  about.  Well,  just  let  her  lose  it ! " 

"  Perhaps,"  said  he. 

"  And,"  I  went  on,  "  you  can  have  the  rule 
about  the  waiting  list  suspended,  and  can  move 
me  up  and  get  me  in  at  once." 

"  We  don't  do  things  in  quite  such  a  hurry  at 
the  Travelers/'  said  he,  laughing.  "  However, 
we'll  try  to  comply  with  your  commands." 

His  generous,  cordial  offer  made  me  half 
ashamed  of  the  plot  I  had  underneath  my  sub 
mission  about  the  coal  mines  —  a  plot  to  get  into 
the  coal  combine  in  order  to  gather  the  means 
to  destroy  it,  and  perhaps  reconstruct  it  with  my 
self  in  control.  I  made  up  my  mind  that,  if  he 
continued  to  act  squarely,  I  would  alter  those 
plans. 

"  If  you  don't  mind,"  Langdon  was  going  on, 
"  I'll  make  a  suggestion  —  merely  a  suggestion. 
It  might  not  be  a  bad  idea  for  you  to  arrange  to 
• — to  eliminate  some  of  the  —  the  popular  fea 
tures  from  your  —  brokerage  business.  There 
are  several  influential  members  of  the  Travelers 
who  have  a  —  a  prejudice — " 

"  I  understand,"  I  interposed,  to  spare  him  the 


DANGER  SIGNALS 


53 


necessity  of  saying  things  he  thought  I  might 
regard  as  impertinent.  "  They  look  on  me  as 
a  keeper  of  a  high-class  bucket-shop." 
"  That's  about  the  way  they'd  put  it." 
"  But  the  things  they  object  to  are,  unfortun 
ately,  my  '  strong  hold/  "  I  explained.  "  You 
other  big  fellows  gather  in  the  big  investors  by 
simply  announcing  your  projects  in  a  dignified 
way.  I  haven't  got  the  ear  of  that  class  of  peo 
ple.  I  have  to  send  out  my  letters,  have  to  ad 
vertise  in  all  the  cities  and  towns,  have  to  catch 
the  little  fellows.  You  can  afford  to  send  out  en 
graved  invitations;  I  have  to  gather  in  my  peo 
ple  with  brass  bands  and  megaphones.  Don't 
forget  that  my  people  count  in  the  totals  bigger 
than  yours.  And  what's  my  chief  value  to  you  ? 
Why,  when  you  want  to  unload,  I  furnish  the 
crowd  to  unload  on,  the  crowd  that  gives  you 
and  your  big  customers  cash  for  your  water  and 
wind.  I  don't  see  my  way  to  letting  go  of  what 
I've  got  until  I  get  hold  of  what  I'm  reaching 
for."  All  this  with  not  a  suspicion  in  my  mind 
that  he  was  at  the  same  game  that  had  caused 
Roebuck  to  "  hint  "  that  same  proposal.  What  a 
"con  man"  high  finance  got  when  Mowbray 
Langdon  became  active  down  town! 


54  THE  DELUGE 

"That's  true,"  he  admitted,  with  a  great  air 
of  frankness.  "  But  the  cry  that  you're  not  a 
financier,  but  a  bucket-shop  man,  might  be  fatal  at 
the  Travelers.  Of  course,  the  sacrifice  would  be 
large  for  such  a  small  object.  Still,  you  might 
have  to  make  it  —  if  you  really  want  to  get  in." 

"I'll  think  it  over,"  said  I.  He  thought  I 
meant  that  I'd  think  over  dropping  my  power  — 
thought  I  was  as  big  a  snob  as  he  and  his  friends 
of  the  Travelers,  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice 
to  be  "  in  the  push."  But,  while  Matthew  Black- 
lock  has  the  streak  of  snob  in  him  that's  natural 
to  all  human  beings  and  to  most  animals,  he  is 
not  quite  insane.  No,  the  thing  I  intended  to 
think  over  was  how  to  stay  in  the  "  bucket- 
shop  "  business,  but  wash  myself  of  its  odium. 
Bucket-shop!  What  snobbery!  Yet  it's  human 
nature,  too.  The  wholesale  merchant  looks  down 
on  the  retailer,  the  big  retailer  on  the  little;  the 
burglar  despises  the  pickpocket ;  the  financier,  the 
small  promoter;  the  man  who  works  with  his 
brain,  the  man  who  works  with  his  hands.  A 
silly  lot  we  are — silly  to  look  down,  sillier  to 
feel  badly  when  we're  looked  down  upon. 


VI 


OF  "GENTLEMEN" 


When  I  got  back  to  my  office  and  was  settling 
to  the  proofs  of  the  "  Letter  to  Investors,"  which 
I  published  in  sixty  newspapers  throughout  the 
country  and  which  daily  reached  upward  of  five 
million  people,  Sam  Ellersly  came  in.  His  man 
ner  was  certainly  different  from  what  it  had  ever 
been  before;  a  difference  so  subtle  that  I  couldn't 
describe  it  more  nearly  than  to  say  it  made  me 
feel  as  if  he  had  not  until  then  been  treating  me 
as  of  the  same  class  with  himself.  I  smiled  to 
myself  and  made  an  entry  in  my  mental  ledger  to 
the  credit  of  Mowbray  Langdon. 

"  That  club  business  is  going  nicely,"  said  Sam. 
"  Langdon  is  enthusiastic,  and  I  find  you've  got 
good  friends  on  the  committee." 

I  knew  that  well  enough.  Hadn't  I  been  car 
rying  them  on  my  books  at  a  good  round  loss  for 
two  years? 

"If  it  wasn't  for — for  some  features  of  this 
55 


j5  THE  DELUGE 

business  o?  yours/'  he  went  on,  "  I'd  say  there 
wouldn't  be  the  slightest  trouble." 

"  Bucket-shop  ?  "  said  I  with  an  easy  laugh, 
though  this  nagging  was  beginning  to  get  on  my 
nerves. 

"  Exactly,"  said  he.  "  And,  you  know,  you 
advertise  yourself  like  —  like — " 

"  Like  everybody  else,  only  more  successfully 
than  most,"  said  L  "  Everybody  advertises, 
each  one  adapting  his  advertising  to  the  needs  of 
his  enterprises,  as  far  as  he  knows  how." 

"That's  true  enough,"  he  confessed.  "But 
there  are  enterprises  and  enterprises,  you  know." 

"  You  can  tell  'em,  Sam,"  said  I,  "  that  I  never 
put  out  a  statement  I  don't  believe  to  be  true,  and 
that  when  any  of  my  followers  lose  on  one  of 
my  tips,  I've  lost  on  it,  too.  For  I  play  my  own 
tips  —  and  that's  more  than  can  be  said  of  any 
t  financier '  in  this  town." 

"Ifd  be  no  use  to  tell  'em  that,"  said  he. 
"  Character's  something  of  a  consideration  in  so 
cial  matters,  of  course.  But  it  isn't  the  chief 
consideration  by  a  long  shot,  and  the  absence  of 
it  isn't  necessarily  fatal." 

"  I'm  the  biggest  single  operator  in  the  coun 
try,"  I  went  on.  "  And  it's  my  methods  that  give 


OF  "  GENTLEMEN  " 


57 


me  success  —  because  I  know  how  to  advertise  — 
how  to  keep  my  name  before  the  country,  and 
how  to  make  men  say,  whenever  they  hear  it: 
'  There's  a  shrewd,  honest  fellow/  That  and  the 
people  it  brings  me,  in  flocks,  are  my  stock  in 
trade.  Honesty's  a  bluff  with  most  of  the  big 
respectables;  under  cover  of  their  respectability, 
of  their  '  old  and  honored  names/  of  their  social 
connections,  of  their  church-going  and  that,  they 
do  all  sorts  of  queer  work/' 

"  To  hear  you  talk,"  put  in  Sam,  with  a  grin, 
"one  would  think  you  didn't  shove  off  millions 
of  dollars  of  suspicious  stuff  on  the  public  through 
those  damn  clever  letters  of  yours." 

"  There's  where  you  didn't  stop  to  think,  Sam," 
said  I.  "  When  I  say  a  stock's  going  to  rise,  it 
rises.  When  I  stop  talking  about  it,  it  may  go 
on  rising  or  it  may  fall.  But  I  never  advise  any 
body  to  buy  except  when  I  have  every  reason  to 
believe  it's  a  good  thing.  If  they  hold  on  too 
long,  that's  their  own  lookout/' 

"  But  they  invest " 

:f  You  use  words  too  carelessly,"  I  said. 
"  When  I  say  buy,  I  don't  mean  invest.  When 
I  mean  invest,  I  say  invest."  There  I  laughed. 
"  It's  a  word  I  don't  6fteh  use." 


5g  THE  DELUGE 

"And  that's  what  you  call  honesty!"  jeered 
he. 

"  That's  what  I  call  honesty,"  I  retorted,  "  and 
that  is  honesty."  And  I  thought  so  then. 

"  Well  —  every  man  has  a  right  to  his  own 
notion  of  what's  honest,"  he  said.  "  But  no 
man's  got  a  right  to  complain  if  a  fellow  with  a 
different  notion  criticizes  him." 

"  None  in  the  world,"  I  assented.  "  Do  you 
criticize  me  ?  " 

"  No,  no,  no,  indeed !  "  he  answered,  nervous, 
and  taking  seriously  what  I  had  intended  as  a 
joke. 

After  a  while  I  dragged  in  the  subject.  "  One 
thing  I  can  and  will  do  to  get  myself  in  line  for 
that  club,"  I  said,  like  a  seal  on  promenade. 
"  I'm  sick  of  the  crowd  I  travel  with  —  the  men 
and  the  women.  I  feel  it's  about  time  I  settled 
down.  I've  got  a  fortune  and  establishment  that 
needs  a  woman  to  set  it  off.  I  can  make  some 
woman  happy.  You  don't  happen  to  know  any 
nice  girls  —  the  right  sort,  I  mean  ?  " 

"Not  many,"  said  Sam.  "You'd  better  go 
back  to  the  country  where  you  came  from,  and 
get  her  there.  She'd  be  eternally  grateful,  and 
her  head  wouldn't  be  full  of  mercenary  nonsense." 


OF  "  GENTLEMEN  "  ^ 

-  Excuse  me ! "  exclaimed  I.  "  It'd  turn  her 
head.  She'd  go  clean  crazy.  She'd  plunge  in 
up  to  her  neck  —  and  not  being  used  to  these 
waters,  she'd  make  a  show  of  herself,  and  prob 
ably  drown,  dragging  me  down  with  her,  if  pos 
sible." 

Sam  laughed.  "  Keep  out  of  marriage,  Matt," 
he  advised,  not  so  obtuse  to  my  real  point  as  he 
wanted  me  to  believe,  "  I  know  the  kind  of  girl 
you've  got  in  mind.  She'd  marry  you  for  your 
money,  and  she'd  never  appreciate  you.  She'd 
see  in  you  only  the  lack  of  the  things  she's  been 
taught  to  lay  stress  OIL" 

"For  instance?" 

"  I  couldn't  tell  you  any  more  than  I  could  en 
able  you  to  recognize  a  person  you'd  never  seen 
by  describing  him." 

"  Ain't  I  a  gentleman  ?  "  I  inquired. 

He  laughed,  as  if  the  idea  tickled  him.  "  Of 
course,"  he  said.  "  Of  course." 

"  Ain't  I  got  as  proper  a  country  place  as  there 
is  a-going?  Ain't  my  apartment  in  the  Wil- 
loughby  a  peach?  Don't  I  give  as  elegant  din 
ners  as  you  ever  sat  down  to?  Don't  I  dress 
right  up  to  the  Piccadilly  latest?  Don't  I  act  all- 
right  —  know  enough  to  keep  my  feet  off  the  tr- 


60  THE  DELUGE 

ble  and  my  knife  out  of  my  mouth  ?  "  All  true 
enough ;  and  I  so  crude  then  that  I  hadn't  a  sus 
picion  what  a  flat  contradiction  of  my  pretensions 
and  beliefs  about  myself  the  very  words  and 
phrases  were. 

"  You're  right  in  it,  Matt,"  said  Sam.  "  But 
• —  well  —  you  haven't  traveled  with  our  crowd, 
and  they're  shy  of  strangers,  especially  as  —  as 
energetic  a  sort  of  stranger  as  you  are.  You're 
too  sudden,  Matt  —  too  dazzling  —  too  — " 

"Too  shiny  and  new?"  said  I,  beginning  to 
catch  his  drift.  "  That'll  be  looked  after.  What 
I  want  is  you  to  take  me  round  a  bit." 

"  I  can't  ask  you  to  people's  houses,"  protested 
he,  knowing  I'd  not  realize  what  a  flimsy  pretense 
that  was. 

While  we  were  talking  I  had  been  thinking  — 
working  out  the  proposition  along  lines  he  had 
indicated  to  me  without  knowing  it.  "  Look 
here,  Sam,"  I  said.  "You  imagine  I'm  trying 
to  butt  in  with  a  lot  of  people  that  don't  know 
me  and  don't  want  to  know  me.  But  that  ain't 
my  point  of  view.  Those  people  can  be  useful 
to  me.  I  need  'em.  What  do  I  care  whether 
they  want  to  be  useful  to  me  or  not  ?  The  ma- 
chine'd  have  run  down  and  rusted  out  long  ago 


OF  "  GENTLEMEN  "  6  x 

if  you  and  your  friends'  idea  of  a  gentleman  had 
been  taken  seriously  by  anybody  who  had  any 
thing  to  do  and  knew  how  to  do  it.  In  this 
world  you've  got  to  make  people  do  what's  for 
your  good  and  their  own.  Your  idea  of  a  gentle 
man  was  put  forward  by  lazy  fakirs  who  were 
living  off  of  what  their  ungentlemanly  ancestors 
had  annexed,  and  who  didn't  want  to  be  dis 
turbed.  So  they  '  fixed '  the  game  by  passing 
these  rules  you  and  your  kind  are  fools  enough 
to  abide  by  —  that  is,  you  are  fools,  unless  you 
haven't  got  brains  enough  to  get  on  in  a  free-and- 
fair-for-all." 

Sam  laughed.  "  There's  a  lot  of  truth  in  what 
you  say,"  he  admitted. 

"  However,"  I  ended,  "  my  plans  don't  call  for 
hurry  just  there.  When  I  get  ready  to  go  round, 
I'll  let  you  know." 


VII 

BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING 

This  brings  me  to  the  ugliest  story  my  enemies 
have  concocted  against  me.  No  one  appreciates 
more  thoroughly  than  I  that,  to  rise  high,  a  man 
must  have  his  own  efforts  seconded  by  the  flood 
of  vituperation  that  his  enemies  send  to  over 
whelm  him,  and  which  washes  him  far  higher 
than  he  could  hope  to  lift  himself.  So  I  do  not 
here  refer  to  any  attack  on  me  in  the  public  prints ; 
I  think  of  them  only  with  amusement  and  grat 
itude.  The  story  that  rankles  is  the  one  these 
foes  of  mine  set  creeping,  like  a  snake  under  the 
fallen  leaves,  everywhere,  anywhere,  unseen, 
without  a  traiL  It  has  been  whispered  into  every 
ear  —  and  it  is,  no  doubt,  widely  believed  —  that 
I  deliberately  put  old  Bromwell  Ellersly  "  in  a 
hole/'  and  there  tortured  him  until  he  consented 
to  try  to  compel  his  daughter  to  marry  me. 

It  is  possible  that,  if  I  had  thought  of  such  a 
devilish  device,  I  might  have  tried  it  —  is  not  all 

62 


BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING         63 

fair  in  love?  But  there  was  no  need  for  my 
cudgeling  my  brains  to  carry  that  particular  for 
tification  on  my  way  to  what  I  had  fixed  my 
will  upon.  Bromwell  Ellersly  came  to  me  of  his 
ovwi  accord. 

I  suppose  the  Ellerslys  must  have  talked  me 
over  in  the  family  circle.  However  this  may  be, 
my  acquaintance  with  her  father  began  with 
Sam's  asking  me  to  lunch  with  him.  "  The  gov 
ernor  has  heard  me  talk  of  you  so  much,"  said  he, 
"  that  he  is  anxious  to  meet  you." 

I  found  him  a  dried-up,  conventional  old  gen 
tleman,  very  proud  of  his  ancestors,  none  of  whom 
I  had  ever  heard  of,  and  very  positive  that  a  great 
deal  of  deference  was  due  him  —  though  on  what 
grounds  I  could  not  then,  and  can  not  now,  make 
out.  I  soon  discovered  that  it  was  the  scent  of 
my  stock-tip  generosity,  wafted  to  him  by  Sammy, 
that  had  put  him  hot  upon  my  trail.  I  hadn't 
gone  far  into  his  affairs  before  I  learned  that  he 
had  been  speculating,  mortgaging,  kiting  notes, 
doing  what  he  called,  and  thought,  "  business  " 
on  a  large  scale.  He  regarded  business  as  be 
neath  the  dignity  and  the  intellect  of  a  "  gentle 
man  " —  how  my  gorge  does  rise  at  that  word ! 
So  he  put  his  great  mind  on  it  only  for  a  few 


64 


THE  DELUGE 


hours  now  and  then;  he  reserved  the  rest  of  his 
time  for  what  he  regarded  as  the  proper  concerns 
of  a  gentleman  —  attending  to  social  "duties/* 
reading  pretentious  books,  looking  at  the  pictures 
and  listening  to  the  music  decreed  fashionable. 

They  charge  that  I  put  him  "  in  a  hole."  In 
fact,  I  found  him  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  pit  he 
had  dug  for  himself;  and  when  he  first  met  me  he 
was,  without  having  the  sense  to  realize  it,  just 
about  to  go  smash,  with  not  a  penny  for  his  old 
age.  As  soon  as  I  had  got  this  fact  clear  of  the 
tangle,  I  showed  it  to  him. 

"  My  God,  what  is  to  become  of  me?  "  he  said, 
That  was  his  only  thought  —  not,  what  is  to  be 
come  of  my  wife  and  daughter;  but,  what  is  to 
become  of  f(  me! "  I  do  not  blame  him  for  this. 
Naturally  enough,  people  who  have  always  been 
used  to  everything  become,  unconsciously,  mon 
sters  of  egotism  and  selfishness ;  it  is  natural,  too, 
that  they  should  imagine  themselves  liberal  and 
generous  if  they  give  away  occasionally  something 
that  costs  them,  at  most,  nothing  more  serious 
than  the  foregoing  of  some  extravagant  luxury 
or  other.  I  recite  his  remark  simply  to  show 
what  manner  of  man  he  was,  what  sort  of  creature 
I  had  to  deal  with. 


BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING         65 

I  offered  to  help  him,  and  I  did  help  him.  Is 
there  any  one,  knowing  anything  of  the  facts  of 
life,  who  will  censure  me  when  I  admit  that  I  — 
with  deliberation  —  simply  tided  him  over,  did 
not  make  for  him  and  present  to  him  a  fortune? 
What  chance  should  I  have  had,  if  I  had  been  so 
absurdly  generous  to  a  man  who  deserved  noth 
ing  but  punishment  for  his  selfish  and  bigoted 
mode  of  life?  I  took  away  his  worst  burdens; 
but  I  left  him  more  than  he  could  carry  without 
my  help.  And  it  was  not  until  he  had  appealed 
in  vain  to  all  his  social  friends  to  relieve  him  of 
the  necessity  of  my  aid,  not  until  he  realized  that 
I  was  his  only  hope  of  escaping  a  sharp  come 
down  from  luxury  to  very  modest  comfort  in  a 
flat  somewhere  —  not  until  then  did  his  wife  send 
me  an  invitation  to  dinner.  And  I  had  not  so 
much  as  hinted  that  I  wanted  it. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  smallest  detail  of  that 
dinner  —  it  was  a  purely  "family"  affair,  only 
the  Ellersl3"s  and  I.  I  can  feel  now  the  oppres 
sive  atmosphere,  the  look  as  of  impending  sacri 
lege  upon  the  faces  of  the  old  servants;  I  can 
see  Mrs.  Ellersly  trying  to  condescend  to  be 
"  gracious,"  and  treating  me  as  if  I  were  some  sort 
of  museum  freak  or  menagerie  exhibit.  I  can  see 


66  THE  DELUGE 

Anita.  She  was  like  a  statue  of  snow ;  she  spoke 
not  a  word;  if  she  lifted  her  eyes,  I  failed  to  note 
it.  And  when  I  was  leaving  —  I  with  my  collar 
wilted  from  the  fierce,  nervous  strain  I  had  been 
enduring  —  Mrs.  Ellersly,  in  that  voice  of  hers 
into  which  I  don't  believe  any  shade  of  a  real  hu 
man  emotion  ever  penetrated,  said :  "  You  must 
come  to  see  us,  Mr.  Blacklock.  We  are  always 
at  home  after  five." 

I  looked  at  Miss  Ellersly.  She  was  white  to 
the  lips  now,  and  the  spangles  on  her  white  dress 
seemed  bits  of  ice  glittering  there.  She  said 
nothing ;  but  I  knew  she  felt  my  look,  and  that  it 
froze  the  ice  the  more  closely  in  around  her  heart. 
"  Thank  you,"  I  muttered. 

I  stumbled  in  the  hall;  I  almost  fell  down  the 
broad  steps.  I  stopped  at  the  first  bar  and  took 
three  drinks  in  quick  succession.  I  went  on  down 
the  avenue,  breathing  like  an  exhausted  swimmer. 
"  I'll  give  her  up! "  I  cried  aloud,  so  upset  was  I. 

I  am  a  man  of  impulse ;  but  I  have  trained  my 
self  not  to  be  a  creature  of  impulse,  at  least  not 
in  matters  of  importance.  Without  that  patient 
and  painful  schooling,  I  shouldn't  have  got  where 
I  now  am ;  probably  I'd  still  be  blacking  boots,  or 
sheet-writing  for  some  bookmaker,  or  clerking  it 


BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING    67 

for  some  broker.  Before  I  got  to  my  rooms,  the 
night  air  and  my  habit  of  the  "  sober  second 
thought "  had  cooled  me  back  to  rationality. 

"  I  want  her,  I  need  her,"  I  was  saying  to  my 
self.  "  I  am  worthier  of  her  than  are  those  minc 
ing  manikins  she  has  been  bred  to  regard  as  men. 
She  is  for  me  —  she  belongs  to  me.  I'll  aban 
don  her  to  no  smirking  puppet  who'd  wear  her  as 
a  donkey  would  a  diamond.  Why  should  I  do 
myself  and  her  an  injury  simply  because  she  has 
been  too  badly  brought  up  to  know  her  own  in 
terest?" 

And  now  I  see  all  the  smooth  frauds,  all  the 
weak  people  who  never  have  purposes  or  passions 
worthy  of  the  name,  all  the  finicky,  finger-dusting 
gentry  with  the  "  fine  souls,"  who  flatter  them 
selves  that  their  timidity  is  the  squeamishness  of 
superior  sensibilities  —  I  see  all  these  feeble  folk 
fluttering  their  feeble  fingers  in  horror  of  me. 
"  The  brute !  "  they  cry ;  "  the  bounder !  "  Well, 
I  accept  the  names  quite  cheerfully.  Those 
are  the  epithets  the  wishy-washy  always  hurl  at 
the  strong;  they  put  me  in  the  small  and  truly 
aristocratic  class  of  men  who  do.  I  proudly  avow 
myself  no  subscriber  to  the  code  that  was  made 
by  the  shearers  to  encourage  the  sheep  to  keep  on 


68  THE  DELUGE 

being  nice  docile  animals,  trotting  meekly  up  to 
be  shorn  or  slaughtered  as  their  masters  may  de 
cide.  I  harm  no  man,  and  no  woman ;  but  neither 
do  I  pause  to  weep  over  any  man  or  any  woman 
who  flings  himself  or  herself  upon  my  steady 
spear.  I  try  to  be  courteous  and  considerate  to 
all ;  but  I  do  not  stop  when  some  fellow  who  has 
something  that  belongs  to  me  shouts  "Rude!" 
at  me  to  sheer  me  off. 

At  the  same  time,  her  delicate  beauty,  her 
quiet,  distinctive,  high-bred  manner,  had  thrust 
it  home  to  me  that  in  certain  respects  I  was 
ignorant  and  crude  —  as  who  would  not  have 
been,  brought  up  as  was  I?  I  knew  there  was, 
somewhere  between  my  roughness  of  the  uncut 
individuality  and  the  smoothness  of  the  planed 
and  sand-papered  nonentity  of  her  "  set,"  a  mean, 
better  than  either,  better  because  more  efficient. 

When  this  was  clear  to  me  I  sent  for  my  trainer. 
He  was  one  of  those  spare,  wiry  Englishmen,  with 
skin  like  tanned  and  painted  hide  —  brown  except 
where  the  bones  seem  about  to  push  their  sharp 
angles  through,  and  there  a  frosty,  winter-apple 
red.  He  dressed  like  a  Dead  wood  gambler,  he 
talked  like  a  stable  boy;  but  for  all  that,  you 
couldn't  fail  to  see  he  was  a  gentleman  born  and 


BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING         69 

bred.  Yes,  he  was  a  gentleman,  though  he  mixed 
profanity  into  his  ordinary  flow  of  conversation 
more  liberally  than  did  I  when  in  a  rage. 

I  stood  up  before  him,  threw  my  coat  back, 
thrust  my  thumbs  into  my  trousers  pockets  and 
slowly  turned  about  like  a  ready-made  tailor's 
dummy.  "  Monson,"  said  I,  "  what  do  you  think 
of  me?" 

He  looked  me  over  as  if  I  were  a  horse  he  was 
about  to  buy.  "  Sound,  I'd  say,"  was  his  ver 
dict.  "  Good  wind  —  uncommon  good  wind.  A 
goer,  and  a  stayer.  Not  a  lump.  Not  a  hair  out 
of  place."  He  laughed.  "  Action  a  bit  high  per 
haps  —  for  the  track.  But  a  grand  reach." 

"  I  know  all  that,"  said  I.  "  You  miss  my 
point.  Suppose  you  wanted  to  enter  me  for  — 
say,  the  Society  Sweepstakes  —  what  then?  " 

"  Um  —  um,"  he  muttered  reflectively. 
"  That's  different." 

"  Don't  I  look  —  sort  of  —  new  —  as  if  the 
varnish  was  still  sticky  and  might  come  off  on 
the  ladies'  dresses  and  on  the  fine  furniture  ?  " 

"Oh  — that!"  said  he  dubiously.  "But  all 
those  kinds  of  things  are  matters  of  taste." 

"Out  with  it!"  I  commanded.  "Don't  be 
afraid.  I'm  not  one  of  those  damn  fools  that  ask 


70  THE  DELUGE 

for  criticism  when  they  want  only  flattery,  as  you 
ought  to  know  by  this  time.  I'm  aware  of  my 
good  points,  know  how  good  they  are  better  than 
anybody  else  in  the  world.  And  I  suspect  my 
weak  points  —  always  did.  I've  got  on  chiefly 
because  I  made  people  tell  me  to  my  face  what 
they'd  rather  have  grinned  over  behind  my  back." 

"  What's  your  game?  "  asked  Monson.  "  I'm 
in  the  dark." 

"  I'll  tell  you,  Monson.  I  hired  you  to  train 
horses.  Now  I  want  to  hire  you  to  train  me,  too 
As  it's  double  work,  it's  double  pay." 

"  Say  on,"  said  he,  "  and  say  it  slow." 

"  I  want  to  marry,"  I  explained.  "  I  want  to 
inspect  all  the  offerings  before  I  decide.  You  are 
to  train  me  so  that  I  can  go  among  the  herds  that'd 
shy  off  from  me  if  I  wasn't  on  to  their  little 
ways." 

He  looked  suspiciously  at  me,  doubtless  think 
ing  this  some  new  development  of  "  American 
humor." 

"  I  mean  it,"  I  assured  him.  "  I'm  going  to 
train,  and  train  hard.  I've  got  no  time  to  lose. 
I  must  be  on  my  way  down  the  aisle  inside  of 
three  months.  I  give  you  a  free  hand.  I'll  do 
just  what  you  say." 


BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING         71 

"  The  job's  out  of  my  line,"  he  protested. 

"  I  know  better,"  said  I.  "  I've  always  seen 
the  parlor  under  the  stable  in  you.  We'll  begin 
right  away.  What  do  you  think  of  these 
clothes?" 

"  Well  —  they're  not  exactly  noisy/'  he  said. 
"  But  —  they're  far  from  silent.  That  waistcoat 

"  He  stopped  and  gave  me  another  nervous, 

timid  look.  He  found  it  hard  to  believe  a  man 
of  my  sort,  so  self-assured,  would  stand  the  truth 
from  a  man  of  his  second-fiddle  sort. 

"  Go  on !  "  I  commanded.  "  Speak  out !  Mow- 
bray  Langdon  had  on  one  twice  as  loud  the  other 
day  at  the  track." 

"  But,  perhaps  you'll  remember,  it  was  only  his 
waistcoat  that  was  loud  —  not  he  himself.  Now, 
a  man  of  your  manner  and  voice  and  —  you've 
got  a  look  out  of  the  eyes  that'd  wake  the  dead  all 
by  itself.  People  can  feel  you  coming  before  they 
hear  ycyu.  When  they  feel  and  hear  and  see  all 
together  —  it's  like  a  brass  band  in  scarlet  uni 
form,  with  a  seven- foot,  sky-blue  drum  major. 
If  your  hair  wasn't  so  black  and  your  eyes  so 
steel-blue  and  sharp,  and  your  teeth  so  big  and 
strong  and  white,  and  your  jaw  such  a  —  such  a 
• —  jaw " 


72  THE  DELUGE 

"I  see  the  point,"  said  I.  And  I  did. 
"  You'll  find  you  won't  need  to  tell  me  many 
things  twice.  I've  got  a  busy  day  before  me  here ; 
so  we'll  have  to  suspend  this  until  you  come  to 
dine  with  me  at  eight  —  at  my  rooms.  I  want 
you  to  put  in  the  time  well.  Go  to  my  house  in 
the  country  and  then  up  to  my  apartment;  take 
my  valet  with  you;  look  through  all  my  belong 
ings —  shirts,  ties,  socks,  trousers,  waistcoats, 
clothes  of  every  kind.  Throw  out  every  rag  you 
think  doesn't  fit  in  with  what  I  want  to  be. 
How's  my  grammar  ?  " 

I  was  proud  of  it;  I  had  been  taking  more  or 
less  pains  with  my  mode  of  speech  for  a  dozen 
years.  "  Rather  too  good,"  said  he.  "  But  that's 
better  than  making  the  breaks  that  aren't  regarded 
as  good  form." 

"Good  form!"  I  exclaimed.  "That's  it! 
That's  what  I  want !  What  does  '  good  form ' 
mean?" 

He  laughed.  "  You  can  search  me,"  said  he. 
"  I  could  easier  tell  you  —  anything  else.  It's 
what  everybody  recognizes  on  sight,  and  no 
body  knows  how  to  describe.  It's  like  the  dif 
ference  between  a  cultivated  '  jimson  '  weed  and  a 
wild  one." 


BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING         73 

"  Like  the  difference  between  Mowbray  Lang- 
don  and  me,"  I  suggested  good-naturedly. 
"  How  about  my  manners?  " 

"  Not  so  bad,"  said  he.  "  Not  so  rotten  bad. 
But  —  when  you're  polite,  you're  a  little  too  po 
lite  ;  when  you're  not  polite,  you " 

"  Show  where  I  came  from  too  plainly  ?  "  said 
I.  "  Speak  right  out  —  hit  good  and  hard.  Am 
I  too  frank  for  '  good  form  '  ?  " 

"  You  needn't  bother  about  that/'  he  assured 
me.  "  Say  whatever  comes  into  your  head  — • 
only,  be  sure  the  right  sort  of  thing  comes  into 
your  head.  Don't  talk  too  much  about  yourself, 
for  instance.  It's  good  form  to  think  about  your 
self  all  the  time ;  it's  bad  form  to  let  people  see  it 
—  in  your  talk.  Say  as  little  as  possible  about 
your  business  and  about  what  you've  got.  Don't 
be  lavish  with  the  I's  and  the  my's." 

"That's  harder,"  said  I.  "I'm  a  man  who 
has  always  minded  his  own  business,  and  cared 
for  nothing  else.  What  could  I  talk  about,  ex 
cept  myself?  " 

"  Blest  if  I  know,"  replied  he.  "  Where  you 
want  to  go,  the  last  thing  people  mind  is  their 
own  business  —  in  talk,  at  least.  But  you'll  get 
on  all  right  if  you  don't  worry  too  much  about 


74  THE  DELUGE 

it.  You've  got  natural  independence,  and  an 
original  way  of  putting  things,  and  common 
sense.  Don't  be  afraid." 

"  Afraid !  "-  said  I.  "  I  never  knew  what  it  was 
to  be  afraid/' 

"  Your  nerve'll  carry  you  through,"  he  assured 
me.  "  Nerve'll  take  a  man  anywhere." 

"  You  never  said  a  truer  thing  in  your  life," 
said  I.  "  It'll  take  him  wherever  he  wants,  and, 
after  he's  there,  it'll  get  him  whatever  he  wants." 

And  with  that,  I,  thinking  of  my  plans  and 
of  how  sure  I  was  of  success,  began  to  march 
up  and  down  the  office  with  my  chest  thrown  out 
—  until  I  caught  myself  at  it.  That  stopped  me» 
set  me  off  in  a  laugh  at  my  own  expense,  he  join 
ing  in  with  a  kind  of  heartiness  I  did  not  like, 
though  I  did  not  venture  to  check  him. 

So  ended  the  first  lesson  —  the  first  of  a  long 
series.  I  soon  saw  that  Monson  was  being  most 
useful  to  me  —  far  more  useful  than  if  he  were 
a  "  perfect  gentleman  "  with  nothing  of  the  track 
and  stable  and  back  stairs  about  him.  Being  a 
sort  of  betwixt  and  between,  he  could  appreciate 
my  needs  as  they  could  not  have  been  appreciated 
by  a  fellow  who  had  never  lived  in  the  rough- 
and-tumble  I  haft  fought  my  way  up  through. 


BLACKLOCK  GOES  INTO  TRAINING         75 

And  being  at  bottom  a  real  gentleman,  and  not 
one  of  those  nervous,  snobbish  make-believes,  he 
wasn't  so  busy  trying  to  hide  his  own  deficien 
cies  from  me  that  he  couldn't  teach  me  anything. 
He  wasn't  afraid  of  being  found  out,  as  Sam  — 
or  perhaps,  even  Langdon  —  would  have  been  in 
the  same  circumstances.  I  wonder  if  there  is  an 
other  country  where  so  many  gentlemen  and! 
ladies  are  born,  or  another  where  so  many  of 
them  have  their  natural  gentility  educated  out  of 
them. 


VIII 

ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  LANGDON 

I  had  Monson  with  me  twice  each  week-day 
—  early  in  the  morning  and  again  after  business 
hours  until  bed-time.  Also  he  spent  the  whole  of 
every  Saturday  and  Sunday  with  me.  He  de 
veloped  astonishing  dexterity  as  a  teacher,  and 
as  soon  as  he  realized  that  I  had  no  false  pride 
and  was  thoroughly  in  earnest,  he  handled  me 
without  gloves  —  like  a  boxing  teacher  who  finds 
that  his  pupil  has  the  grit  of  a  professional.  It 
was  easy  enough  for  me  to  grasp  the  theory  of 
my  new  business  —  it  was  nothing  more  than 
"  Be  natural."  But  the  rub  came  in  making  my 
self  naturally  of  the  right  sort.  I  had  —  as  I 
suppose  every  man  of  intelligence  and  decent  in 
stincts  has  —  a  disposition  to  be  friendly  and 
simple.  But  my  manner  was  by  nature  what  you 
might  call  abrupt.  My  not  very  easy  task  was  to 
learn  the  subtle  difference  between  the  abrupt  that 
injects  a  tonic  into  social  intercourse,  and  the 

76 


ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  LANGDON 


77 


abrupt  that  makes  the  other  person  shut  up  with  a" 
feeling  of  having  been  insulted. 

Then,  there  was  the  matter  of  good  taste  in 
conversation.  Monson  found,  as  I  soon  saw, 
that  my  everlasting  self-assertiveness  was  beyond 
cure.  As  I  said  to  him :  "  I'm  afraid  you  might 
easier  succeed  in  reducing  my  chest  measure/' 
But  we  worked  away  at  it,  and  perhaps  my  read 
ers  may  discover  even  in  this  narrative,  though  it 
is  necessarily  egotistic,  evidence  of  at  least  an 
honest  effort  not  to  be  baldly  boastful.  Monson 
would  have  liked  to  make  of  me  a  self-deprecat 
ing  sort  of  person  —  such  as  he  was  himself,  with 
the  result  that  the  other  fellow  always  got  the 
prize  and  he  got  left.  But  I  would  have  none  of 
it. 

"How  are  people  to  know  about  you,  if 'you 
don't  tell  'em  ?  "  I  argued.  "  Don't  you  yourself 
admit  that  men  take  a  man  at  his  own  valuation 
less  a  slight  discount,  and  that  women  take  him  at 
his  own  valuation  plus  an  allowance  for  his  sup 
posed  modesty?" 

"  Cracking  yourself  up  is  vulgar,  nevertheless," 
declared  the  Englishman.  "  It's  the  chief  reason 
why  we  on  the  other  side  look  on  you  Americans 
as  a  lot  of  vulgarians  — " 


78  THE  DELUGE 

"  And  are  in  awe  of  our  superior  cleverness," 
I  put  in. 

He  laughed. 

"  Well,  do  the  best  you  can/'  said  he.  "  Only, 
you  really  must  not  brag  and  swagger,  and  you 
must  get  out  of  the  habit  of  talking  louder  than 
any  one  else." 

In  the  matter  of  dress,  our  task  was  easy.  I 
had  a  fancy  for  bright  colors  and  for  strong  con 
trasts;  but  I  know  I  never  indulged  in  clashes 
and  discords.  It  was  simply  that  in  clothes  I  had 
the  same  taste  as  in  pictures  —  the  taste  that 
made  me  prefer  Rubens  to  Rembrandt.  We  cast 
out  of  my  wardrobe  everything  in  the  least  doubt 
ful  ;  and  I  gave  away  my  jeweled  canes,  my  pins 
and  links  and  buttons  for  shirts  and  waistcoats 
except  plain  gold  and  pearls.  I  even  left  off  the 
magnificent  diamond  I  had  worn  for  years  on  my 
little  finger  —  but  I  didn't  give  away  that  stone ; 
I  put  it  by  for  resetting  into  an  engagement  ring. 
However,  when  I  was  as  quietly  dressed  as  it 
was  possible  for  a  gentleman  to  be,  he  still  studied 
me  dubiously,  when  he  thought  I  wasn't  seeing 
him.  And  I  recall  that  he  said  once :  "  It's  your 
face,  Blacklock.  If  you  could  only  manage  to 
look  less  like  a  Spanish  bull  dashing  into  the 


ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  LANGDON  79 

ring,  gazing  joyfully  about  for  somebody  to  gore 
and  toss ! " 

"But  I  can't,"  said  I.  "  And  I  wouldn't  if 
I  could  —  because  that's  me!  " 

One  Saturday  he  brought  a  dancing  master 
down  to  my  country  place —  Dawn  Hill,  which 
I  bought  of  the  Dumont  estate  and  completely  re 
modeled.  I  saw  what  the  man's  business  was 
the  instant  I  looked  at  him.  I  left  him  in  the 
hall  and  took  Monson  into  my  den. 

"  Not  for  me !  "  I  protested.  "  There's  where 
I  draw  the  line." 

"You  don't  understand,"  he  urged.  "This 
fellow,  this  Alphonse  Lynch,  out  in  the  hall 
there,  isn't  going  to  teach  you  dancing  so  that 
you  may  dance,  but  so  that  you  shall  be  less 
awkward  in  strange  company." 

"  My  walk  suits  me,"  said  I.  "  And  I  don't 
fall  over  furniture  or  trip  people  up." 

"  True  enough,"  he  answered.  "  But  you 
haven't  the  complete  control  of  your  body  that'll 
make  you  unconscious  of  it  when  you're  sud 
denly  shot  by  a  butler  into  a  room  full  of  people 
you  suspect  of  being  unfriendly  and  critical." 

Not  until  he  used  his  authority  as  trainer-in- 
full-charge,  did  I  yield.  It  may  seem  absurd 


80  THE  DELUGE 

to  some  for  a  serious  man  like  me  solemnly  to 
caper  about  in  imitation  of  a  scraping,  grimacing 
French-Irishman;  but  Monson  was  right  and  I 
haven't  in  the  least  minded  the  ridicule  he  has 
brought  on  me  by  tattling  this  and  the  other 
things  everywhere,  since  he  turned  against  me. 
It's  nothing  new  under  the  sun  for  the  crowds  of 
chuckleheads  to  laugh  where  they  ought  to  ap 
plaud;  their  habit  is  to  laugh  and  to  applaud  in 
the  wrong  places.  There's  no  part  of  my  career 
that  I'm  prouder  of  than  the  whole  of  this  thor 
ough  course  of  education  in  the  trifles  that  are 
yet  not  trifles.  To  have  been  ignorant  is  no  dis 
grace;  the  disgrace  comes  when  one  persists  in 
ignorance  and  glories  in  it. 

Yet  those  who  make  the  most  pretensions  in 
this  topsy-turvy  of  a  world  regard  it  as  a  dis 
grace  to  have  been  obscure  and  ignorant,  and 
pride  themselves  upon  their  persistence  in  their 
own  kind  of  obscurity  and  ignorance !  No  won 
der  the  few  strong  men  do  about  as  they  please 
with  such  a  race  of  nincompoopery.  If  they 
didn't  grow  old  and  tired,  what  would  they 
not  do? 

All  this  time  I  was  giving  myself  —  or 
thought  I  was  giving  myself  —  chiefly  to  my 


ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  LANGDON  8l 

business,  as  usual.  I  know  now  that  the  new 
interests  had  in  fact  crowded  the  things  down 
town  far  into  the  background,  had  impaired  my 
judgment,  had  suspended  my  common  sense ;  but 
I  had  no  inkling  of  this  then-  The  most  impor 
tant  matter  that  was  occupying  me  down  town 
was  pushing  Textile  up  toward  par.  Langdon's 
doubts,  little  though  they  influenced  me,  still 
made  enough  of  an  impression  to  cause  me  to 
test  the  market.  I  sold  for  him  at  ninety,  as 
he  had  directed;  I  sold  in  quantity  every  day. 
But  no  matter  how  much  I  unloaded,  the  price 
showed  no  tendency  to  break. 

"  This,"  said  I  to  myself,  "  is  a  testimonial  to 
the  skill  with  which  I  prepared  for  my  bull  cam 
paign/'  And  that  seemed  to  me  —  all  unsus 
picious  as  I  then  was — >a  sufficient  explanation 
of  the  steadiness  of  the  stock  which  I  had  worked 
to  establish  in  the  public  confidence. 

I  felt  that,  if  my  matrimonial  plans  should 
turn  out  as  I  confidently  expected,  I  should  need 
a  much  larger  fortune  than  I  had  —  for  I  was 
determined  that  my  wife  should  have  an  estab 
lishment  second  to  none.  Accordingly,  I  en 
larged  my  original  plan.  I  had  intended  to  keep 
close  to  Langdon  in  that  plunge;  I  believed  I 


g2  THE  DELUGE 

controlled  the  market,  but  I  hadn't  been  in  Wall 
Street  twenty  years  without  learning  that  the 
worst  thunderbolts  fall  from  cloudless  skies. 
Without  being  in  the  least  suspicious  of  Lang- 
don,  and  simply  acting  on  the  general  principle 
that  surprise  and  treachery  are  part  of  the  code 
of  high  finance,  I  had  prepared  to  guard,  first, 
against  being  taken  in  the  rear  by  a  secret  change 
of  plan  on  Langdon's  part,  and  second,  against 
being  involved  and  overwhelmed  by  a  sudden  se 
cret  attack  on  him  from  some  associate  of  his 
who  might  think  he  had  laid  himself  open  to 
successful  raiding. 

The  market  is  especially  dangerous  toward 
Christmas  and  in  the  spring  —  toward  Christ 
mas  the  big  fellows  often  juggle  the  stocks  to 
get  the  money  for  their  big  Christmas  gifts  and 
alms;  toward  spring  the  motive  is,  of  course, 
the  extra  summer  expenses  of  their  families  and 
the  commencement  gifts  to  colleges.  It  was  now 
late  in  the  spring. 

I  say,  I  had  intended  to  be  cautious.  I  aban 
doned  caution  and  rushed  in  boldly,  feeling  that 
the  market  was*  in  general,  safe  and  that  Textile 
was  under  my  control  —  and  that  I  was  one  of 
the  kings  of  high  finance,  with  my  lucky  star  in 


ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  LANGDON  83 

the  zenith.  I  decided  to  continue  my  bull  cam 
paign  on  my  own  -account  for  two  weeks  after  I 
had  unloaded  for  Langdon,  to  continue  it  until  the 
stock  was  at  par.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  pushing 
it  to  ninety-seven,  and  I  was  not  alarmed  when 
I  found  myself  loaded  up  with  it,  quoted  at 
ninety-eight  for  the  preferred  and  thirty  for  the 
common.  I  assumed  that  I  was  practically  its 
only  supporter  and  that  it  would  slowly  settle 
back  as  I  slowly  withdrew  my  support. 

To  my  surprise,  the  stock  did  not  yield  imme 
diately  under  my  efforts  to  depress  it.  I  sold 
more  heavily;  Textile  continued  to  show  a  tend 
ency  to  rise.  I  sold  still  more  heavily;  it  broke 
a  point  or  two,  then  steadied  and  rose  again. 
Instead  of  sending  out  along  my  secret  lines 
for  inside  information,  as  I  should  have  done, 
and  would  have  done  had  I  not  been  in  a  state 
of  hypnotized  judgment  —  I  went  to  Langdon ! 
I  who  had  been  studying  those  scoundrels  for 
twenty-odd  years,  and  dealing  directly  with  and 
for  them  for  ten  years! 

He  wasn't  at  his  office;  they  told  me  there 
that  they  didn't  know  whether  he  was  at  his  town 
house  or  at  his  place  in  the  country  —  "  prob 
ably  in  the  country,"  said  his  down-town  secre- 


84  THE  DELUGE 

tary,  with  elaborate  carelessness.  "  He  wouldn't 
be  likely  to  stay  away  from  the  office  or  not 
to  send  for  me,  if  he  were  in  town,  would  he?  " 

It  takes  an  uncommon  good  liar  to  lie  to  me 
when  I'm  on  the  alert.  As  I  was  determined  to 
see  Langdon,  I  was  in  so  far  on  the  alert.  And 
I  felt  the  fellow  was  lying.  "  That's  reason 
able,"  said  I.  "  Call  me  up,  if  you  hear  from 
him.  I  want  to  see  him  —  important,  but  not 
immediate."  And  I  went  away,  having  left  the 
impression  that  I  would  make  no  further  effort. 

Incredible  though  it  may  seem,  especially  to 
those  who  know  how  careful  I  am  to  guard  every 
point  and  to  see  in  every  friend  a  possible  foe, 
I  still  did  not  suspect  that  smooth,  that  profound 
scoundrel.  I  do  not  use  these  epithets  with  heat. 
I  flatter  myself  I  am  a  connoisseur  of  finesse  and 
can  look  even  at  my  own  affairs  with  judicial 
impartiality.  And  Langdon  was,  and  is  now, 
such  a  past  master  of  finesse  that  he  compels  the 
admiration  even  of  his  victims.  He's  like  one 
of  those  fabled  Damascus  blades.  When  he 
takes  a  leg  off,  the  victim  forgets  to  suffer  in 
his  amazement  at  the  cleanness  of  the  wound,  in 
his  incredulity  that  the  leg  is  no  longer  part  of 
him.  "  Langdon,"  said  I  to  myself,  "  is  a  sly 


ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  LANGDON  85 

dog1.  No  doubt  he's  busy  about  some  woman, 
and  has  covered  his  tracks."  Yet  I  ought,  in 
the  circumstances,  instantly  to  have  suspected 
that  I  was  the  person  he  was  dodging. 

I  went  up  to  his  house.  You,  no  doubt,  have 
often  seen  and  often  admired  its  beautiful  fagade, 
so  simple  that  it  hides  its  own  magnificence  from 
all  but  experienced  eyes,  so  perfect  in  its  pro 
portions  that  it  hides  the  vastness  of  the  palace 
of  which  it  is  the  face.  I  have  heard  men  say: 
"  I'd  like  to  have  a  house  —  a  moderate-sized 
house  —  one  about  the  size  of  Mowbray  Lang- 
don's  —  though  perhaps  a  little  more  elegant,  not 
so  plain." 

That's  typical  of  the  man.  You  have  to  look 
closely  at  him,  to  study  him,  before  you  appre 
ciate  how  he  has  combined  a  thousand  details  of 
manner  and  dress  into  an  appearance  which,  while 
it  can  not  but  impress  the  ordinary  man  with  its 
distinction,  suggests  to  all  but  the  very  observant 
the  most  modest  plainness  and  simplicity.  How 
few  realize  that  simplicity  must  be  profound, 
complex,  studied,  not  to  be  and  to  appear  crude 
and  coarse.  In  those  days  that  truth  had  just 
begun  to  dawn  on  me. 

"  Mr.  Langdon  isn't  at  home/'  said  the  servant. 


86  THE  DELUGE 

I  had  been  at  his  house  once  before ;  I  knew  he 
occupied  the  left  side  —  the  whole  of  the  second 
floor,  so  shut  off  that  it  not  only  had  a  separate 
entrance,  but  also  could  not  be  reached  by  those 
in  the  right  side  of  the  house  without  descending 
to  the  entrance  hall  and  ascending  the  left  stair 
way. 

"  Just  take  my  card  to  his  private  secretary,  to 
Mr.  Rathburn,"  said  I.  "  Mr.  Langdon  has 
doubtless  left  a  message  for  me." 

The  butler  hesitated,  yielded,  showed  me  into 
the  reception-room  off  the  entrance  hall.  I 
waited  a  few  seconds,  then  adventured  the  stair 
way  to  the  left,  up  which  he  had  disappeared.  I 
entered  the  small  salon  in  which  Langdon  had 
received  me  on  my  other  visit.  From  the  direc 
tion  of  an  open  door,  I  heard  his  voice  —  he  was 
saying :  "  I  am  not  at  home.  There's  no  mes- 
sage." 

And  still  I  did  not  realize  that  it  was  I  he  was 
avoiding ! 

"  It's  no  use  now,  Langdon,"  I  called  cheer 
fully.  "  Beg  pardon  for  seeming  to  intrude.  I 
misunderstood  —  or  didn't  hear  where  the  servant 
said  I  was  to  wait.  However,  no  harm  done,, 
So  long !  I'm  off."  But  I  made  no  move  toward 


ON  THE  TRAIL  OF  LANGDON  87 

the  door  by  which  I  had  entered;  instead,  I  ad 
vanced  a  few  feet  nearer  the  door  from  which 
his  voice  had  come. 

After  a  brief  —  a  very  brief  —  pause,  there 
came  in  Langdon's  voice  —  laughing,  not  a  trace 
of  annoyance :  "  I  might  have  known !  Come  in, 
Matt!" 


rx 

LANGDON   AT    HOME 

I  entered,  with  an  amused  glance  at  the  butler, 
who  was  giving  over  his  heavy  countenance  to 
a  delightful  exhibition  of  disgust  and  discom 
fiture.  It  was  Langdon's  sitting-room.  He  had 
had  the  carved  antique  oak  interior  of  a  room  in 
an  old  French  palace  torn  out  and  transported  to 
New  York  and  set  up  for  him.  I  had  made  a 
study  of  that  sort  of  thing,  and  at  Dawn  Hill  had 
done  something  toward  realizing  my  own  ideas 
of  the  splendid.  But  a  glance  showed  me  that 
I  was  far  surpassed.  What  I  had  done  seemed  in 
comparison  like  the  composition  of  a  school-boy 
beside  an  essay  by  Goldsmith  or  Hazlitt. 

And  in  the  midst  of  this  quiet  splendor  sat,  or 
rather  lounged,  Langdon,  reading  the  newspapers. 
He  was  dressed  in  a  dark  blue  velvet  house-suit 
with  facings  and  cords  of  blue  silk  a  shade  or 
so  lighter  than  the  suit.  I  had  always  thought 
him  handsome;  he  looked  now  like  a  god.  He 


LANGDON  AT  HOME 


89 


was  smoking  a  cigarette  in  an  oriental  holder 
nearly  a  foot  long;  but  the  air  of  the  room,  so 
perfect  was  the  ventilation,  instead  of  being 
scented  with  tobacco,  had  the  odor  of  some  fresh, 
clean,  slightly  saline  perfume. 

I  think  what  was  in  my  mind  must  have  shown 
in  my  face,  must  have  subtly  flattered  him,  for, 
when  I  looked  at  him,  he  was  giving  me  a  look  of 
genuine  friendly  kindliness.  "  This  is  —  perfect, 
Langdon,"  said  I.  "  And  I  think  I'm  a  judge." 

"  Glad  you  like  it,"  said  he,  trying  to  dissemble 
his  satisfaction  in  so  strongly  impressing  me. 

:<  You  must  take  me  through  your  house  some 
time/'  I  went  on.  "  I'm  going  to  build  soon. 
No  —  don't  be  afraid  I'll  imitate.  I'm  too  vain 
for  that.  But  I  want  suggestions.  I'm  not 
ashamed  to  go  to  school  to  a  master  —  to  any 
body,  for  that  matter." 

"Why  do  you  build?"  said  he.  "A  town 
house  is  a  nuisance.  If  I  could  induce  my  wife 
to  take  the  children  to  the  country  to  live,  I'd 
dispose  of  this." 

"That's  it  — the  wife,"  said  I. 

"  But  you  have  no  wife.     At  least — " 

"  No,"  I  replied  with  a  laugh.  "  Not  yet.  But 
I'm  going  to  have." 


go  THE  DELUGE 

I  interpreted  his  expression  then  as  amused 
cynicism.  But  I  see  a  different  meaning  in  it 
now.  And  I  can  recall  his  tone,  can  find  a  strained 
note  which  then  escaped  me  in  his  usual  mocking 
drawl. 

"To  marry?"  said  he.  "I  haven't  heard  of 
that/' 

"  Nor  no  one  else,"  said  I. 

"  Except  her,"  said  he. 

"  Not  even  except  her,"  said  I.  "  But  I've  got 
my  eye  on  her  —  and  you  know  what  that  means 
with  me." 

"  Yes,  I  know,"  drawled  he.  Then  he  added, 
with  a  curious  twinkle  which  I  do  not  now  mis 
understand  :  "  We  have  somewhat  the  same 
weakness." 

"  I  shouldn't  call  it  a  weakness,"  said  I.  "  It's 
the  quality  that  makes  the  chief  difference  be 
tween  us  and  the  common  run  —  the  fellows  that 
have  no  purposes  beyond  getting  comfortably 
through  each  day  — " 

"  And  getting  real  happiness/'  he  interrupted, 
with  just  a  tinge  of  bitterness. 

"  We  wouldn't  think  it  happiness,"  was  my  an 
swer. 

"The   worse    for   us,"   he   replied.     "We're 


LANGDON  AT  HOME  9I 

under  the  tyranny  of  to-morrow  —  and  happiness 
is  impossible." 

"  May  I  look  at  your  bedroom?  "     I  asked. 

"  Certainly,"  he  assented. 

I  pushed  open  the  door  he  indicated.  At  first 
glimpse  I  was  disappointed  The  big  room 
looked  like  a  section  of  a  hospital  ward.  It 
wasn't  until  I  had  taken  a  second  and  very  care 
ful  look  at  the  tiled  floor,  walls,  ceiling,  that  I 
noted  that  those  plain  smooth  tiles  were  of  the 
very  finest,  were  probably  of  his  own  designing, 
certainly  had  been  imported  from  some  great 
Dutch  or  German  kiln.  Not  an  inch  of  drapery, 
not  a  picture,  nothing  that  could  hold  dust  or 
germs  anywhere;  a  square  of  sanitary  matting 
by  the  bed ;  another  square  opposite  an  elaborate 
exercising  machine.  The  Bed  was  of  the  simplest 
metallic  construction  —  but  I  noted  that  the  metal 
was  the  finest  bronze.  On  it  was  a  thin,  hard 
mattress.  You  could  wash  the  big  room  down 
and  out  with  the  hose,  without  doing  any  damage. 

"  Quite  a  contrast,"  said  I,  glancing  from  the 
one  room  to  the  other. 

"  My  architect  is  a  crank  on  sanitation,"  he 
explained,  from  his  lounge. 

I  noted  that  the  windows  were  huge  —  to  ad- 


92  THE  DELUGE 

mit  floods  of  light  —  and  that  they  were  hermet 
ically  sealed  so  that  the  air  should  be  only  the 
pure  air  supplied  from  the  ventilating  apparatus. 
To  many  people  that  room  would  have  seemed  a 
cheaply  got  together  cell;  to  me,  once  I  had  ex 
amined  it,  it  was  evidently  built  at  enormous  cost 
and  represented  an  extravagance  of  common- 
sense  luxury  which  was  more  than  princely  or 
royal. 

Suddenly  my  mind  reverted  to  my  business. 
"  How  do  you  account  for  the  steadiness  of  Tex 
tile,  Langdon  ?  "  I  asked,  returning  to  the  carved 
sitting-room  and  trying  to  put  those  surroundings 
out  of  my  mind. 

"  I  don't  account  for  it,"  was  his  languid,  un 
interested  reply. 

"  Any  of  your  people  under  the  market  ?  " 

"  It  isn't  to  my  interest  to  have  it  supported, 
is  it?"  he  replied. 

"  I  know  that,"  I  admitted.  "  But  why  doesn't 
it  drop?" 

"  Those  letters  of  yours  may  have  overeducated 
the  public  in  confidence,"  suggested  he.  "  Your 
followers  have  the  habit  of  believing  implicitly 
whatever  you  say." 

"  Yes,  but  I  haven't  written  a  line  about 


LANGDON  AT  HOME  93 

tile  for  nearly  a  month  now,"  I  pretended  to 
object,  my  vanity  fairly  purring  with  pleasure. 

"  That's  the  only  reason  I  can  give,"  said  he. 

"  You  are  sure  none  of  your  people  is  support 
ing  the  stock?"  I  asked,  as  a  form  and  not  for 
information;  for  I  thought  I  knew  they  weren't 
—  I  trusted  him  to  have  seen  to  that. 

"  I'd  like  to  get  my  holdings  back/'  said  he. 
"  I  can't  buy  until  it's  down.  And  I  know  none 
of  my  people  would  dare  support  it." 

You  will  notice  he  did  not  say  directly  that  he 
was  not  himself  supporting  the  market ;  he  simply 
so  answered  me  that  I,  not  suspecting  him,  would 
think  he  reassured  me.  There  is  another  of  those 
mysteries  of  conscience.  Had  it  been  necessary, 
Langdon  would  have  told  me  the  lie  flat  and  di 
rect,  would  have  told  it  without  a  tremor  of  the 
voice  or  a  blink  of  the  eye,  would  have  lied  to  me 
as  I  have  heard  him,  and  almost  all  the  big 
fellows,  lie  under  oath  before  courts  and  legisla 
tive  committees;  yet,  so  long  as  it  was  possible, 
he  would  thus  lie  to  me  with  lies  that  were  not 
lies.  As  if  negative  lies  are  not  falser  and  more 
cowardly  than  positive  lies,  because  securer  and 
more  deceptive. 

"Well,  then,  the  price  must  break,"  said  L 


94  THE  DELUGE 

•"  It  won't  be  many  days  before  the  public  begins 
to  realize  that  there  isn't  anybody  under  Tex 
tile." 

"  No  sharp  break !  "  he  said  carelessly.  "  No 
panic ! " 

"  I'll  see  to  that,"  replied  I,  with  not  a  shadow 
of  a  notion  of  the  subtlety  behind  his  warning. 

"  I  hope  it  will  break  soon,"  he  then  said,  add 
ing  in  his  friendliest  voice  with  what  I  now 
know  was  malignant  treachery :  "  You  owe  it  to 
me  to  bring  it  down."  That  meant  that  he 
wished  me  to  increase  my  already  far  too  heavy 
and  dangerous  line  of  shorts. 

Just  then  a  voice  —  a  woman's  voice  —  came 
from  the  salon.  "  May  I  come  in  ?  Do  I  inter 
rupt  ?  "  it  said,  and  its  tone  struck  me  as  having 
in  it  something  of  plaintive  appeal. 

"  Excuse  me  a  moment,  Blacklock,"  said  he, 
rising  with  what  was  for  him  haste. 

But  he  was  too  late.  The  woman  entered, 
searching  the  room  with  a  piercing,  suspicious 
gaze.  At  once  I  saw,  behind  that  look,  a  jealousy 
that  pounced  on  every  object  that  came  into  its 
view,  and  studied  it  with  a  hope  that  feared  and  a 
fear  that  hoped.  When  her  eyes  had  toured  the 
room,  they  paused  upon  him,  seemed  to  be  say- 


LANGDON  AT  HOME  g$ 

ing :  "  You've  baffled  me  again,  but  I'm  not  dis 
couraged.  I  shall  catch  you  yet." 

"  Well,  my  dear  ?  "  said  Langdon,  whom  she 
seemed  faintly  to  amuse.  "  It's  only  Mr,  Black- 
lock.  Mr.  Blacklock,  my  wife." 

I  bowed;  she  looked  coldly  at  me,  and  her 
slight  nod  was  more  than  a  hint  that  she  wished 
to  be  left  alone  with  her  husband. 

I  said  to  him :  "  Well,  I'll  be  off.  Thank  you 
for— " 

"  One  moment,"  he  interrupted.  Then  to  his 
wife :  "  Anything  special?  " 

She  flushed.  "  No  —  nothing  special.  I  just 
came  to  see  you.  But  if  I  am  disturbing  you  — 
as  usual  — " 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  he.  "  When  Blacklock  and 
I  have  finished,  I'll  come  to  you.  It  won't  be 
longer  than  an  hour  —  or  so." 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  she  said  almost  savagely.  Evi 
dently  she  was  one  of  those  women  who  dare 
not  make  "scenes"  with  their  husbands  in  private 
and  so  are  compelled  to  take  advantage  of  the 
presence  of  strangers  to  ease  their  minds.  She 
was  an  extremely  pretty  woman,  would  have  been 
beautiful  but  for  the  worn,  strained,  nervous  look 
that  probably  came  from  her  jealousy.  She 


96  THE  DELUGE 

was  small  in  stature;  her  figure  was  approaching 
that  stage  at  which  a  woman  is  called  "  well 
rounded  "  by  the  charitable,  fat  by  the  frank  and 
accurate.  A  few  years  more  and  she  would  be 
hunting  down  and  destroying  early  photographs. 
There  was  in  the  arrangement  of  her  hair  and  in 
the  details  of  her  toilet  —  as  well  as  in  her  giving 
way  to  her  tendency  to  fat  —  that  carelessness 
that  so  many  women  allow  themselves,  once  they 
are  safely  married  to  a  man  they  care  for. 

"  Curious,"  thought  I,  "  that  being  married  to 
him  should  make  her  feel  secure  enough  of  him 
to  let  herself  go,  although  her  instinct  is  warning 
her  all  the  time  that  she  isn't  in  the  least  sure 
of  him.  Her  laziness  must  be  stronger  than  her 
love  — •  her  laziness  or  her  vanity." 

While  I  was  thus  sizing  her  up,  she  was  reluc 
tantly  leaving.  She  didn't  even  give  me  the 
courtesy  of  a  bow  —  whether  from  self-absorp 
tion  or  from  haughtiness  I  don't  know ;  probably 
from  both.  She  was  a  Western  woman,  and 
when  those  Western  women  do  become  perverts 
to  New  York's  gospel  of  snobbishness,  they  are 
the  worst  snobs  in  the  push.  Langdon,  regard 
less  of  my  presence,  looked  after  her  with  a  faint 
ly  amused,  faintly  contemptuous  expression  that 


LANGDON  AT  HOME 


97 


—  well,  it  didn't  fit  in  with  my  notion  of  what 
constitutes  a  gentleman.  In  fact,  I  didn't  know 
which  of  them  had  come  off  the  worse  in  that 
brief  encounter  in  my  presence.  It  was  my  first 
glimpse  of  a  fashionable  behind-the-scenes,  and 
it  made  a  profound  impression  upon  me  —  an  im 
pression  that  has  grown  deeper  as  I  have  learned 
how  much  of  the  typical  there  was  in  it.  Dirt 
looks  worse  in  the  midst  of  finery  than  where  one 
naturally  expects  to  find  it  —  looks  worse,  and  is 
worse. 

When  we  were  seated  again,  Langdon,  after 
a  few  reflective  puffs  at  his  cigarette,  said :  "  So 
you're  about  to  marry  ?  " 

"  I  hope  so,"  said  I.  "  But  as  I  haven't  asked 
her  yet,  I  can't  be  quite  sure."  For  obvious  rea 
sons  I  wasn't  so  enamored  of  the  idea  of  matri 
mony  as  I  had  been  a  few  minutes  before. 

"  I  trust  you're  making  a  sensible  marriage," 
said  he.  "  If  the  part  that  may  be  glamour 
.should  by  chance  rub  clean  away,  there  ought  to 
be  something  to  make  one  feel  he  wasn't  wholly 
an  ass." 

"  Very  sensible,"  I  replied  with  emphasis.  "  I 
want  the  woman.  I  need  her." 

He  inspected  the  coal  of  his  cigarette,  lifting 


98  THE  DELUGE 

his  eyebrows  at  it  Presently  he  said:  "And 
she?" 

"  I  don't  know  how  she  feels  about  it  —  as  I 
told  you,"  I  replied  curtly.  In  spite  of  myself, 
my  eyes  shifted  and  my  skin  began  to  burn. 
"  By  the  way,,  Langdon,  what's  the  name  of  your 
architect?" 

"Wilder  and  Marcy,"  said  he.  "They're 
fairly  satisfactory,  if  you  tell  'em  exactly  what 
you  want  and  watch  'em  all  the  time.  They're 
perfectly  conventional  and  so  can't  distinguish 
between  originality  that's  artistic  and  originality 
that's  only  bizarre.  They're  like  most  people  — 
they  keep  to  the  beaten  track  and  fight  tooth 
and  nail  against  being  drawn  out  of  it  and 
against  those  wrho  do  go  out  of  it." 

"  I'll  have  a  talk  with  Marcy  this  very  day," 
said  L 

"Oh,  you're  in  a  hurry  I"  He  laughed. 
"  And  you  haven't  asked  her.  You  remind  me 
of  that  Greek  philosopher  who  was  in  love  with 
Lais.  They  asked  him :  '  But  does  she  love 
you  ? '  And  he  said :  '  One  does  not  inquire  of 
the  fish  one  likes  whether  it  likes  one.' ' 

I  flushed.  "  You'll  pardon  me,  Langdon/' 
said  I,  "  but  I  don't  like  that.  It  isn't  my  atti- 


LANGDON  AT  HOME  90 

tude  at  all  toward  —  the  right  sort  of  wom 
en." 

He  looked  half -quizzical,  half-apologetic.  "  Ah, 
to  be  sure,"  said  he.  "  I  forgot  you  weren't  a 
married  man." 

"I  don't  think  I'll  ever  lose  the  belief  that 
there's  a  quality  in  a  good  woman  for  a  man  to 
—  to  respect  and  look  up  to." 

"  I  envy  you/'  said  he,  but  his  eyes  were  mock 
ing  still.  I  saw  he  was  a  little  disdainful  of  my 
rebuking  him  —  and  angry  at  me,  too. 

"  Woman's  a  subject  of  conversation  that  men 
ought  to  avoid,"  said  I  easily  —  for,  having  set 
myself  right,  I  felt  I  could  afford  to  smooth  him 
down. 

"Well,  good-by  —  good  luck  —  or,  if  I  may 
be  permitted  to  say  it  to  one  so  touchy,  the  kind 
of  luck  you're  bent  on  having,  whether  it's  good 
or  bad." 

"  If  my  luck  ain't  good,  I'll  make  it  good," 
said  I  with  a  laugh. 

And  so  I  left  him,  with  a  look  in  his  eyes  that 
came  back  to  me  long  afterward  when  I  realized 
the  full  meaning  of  that  apparently  almost  com 
monplace  interview. 

That  same  day  I  began  to  plunge  on  Textile, 


I00  THE  DELUGE 

watching  the  market  closely,  that  I  might  go 
more  slowly  should  there  be  signs  of  a  dangerous 
break  —  for  no  more  than  Langdon  did  I  want 
a  sudden  panicky  slump.  The  price  held  steady, 
however;  but  I,  fool  that  I  was,  certain  the  fall 
must  come,  plunged  on,  digging  the  pit  for  my 
own  destruction  deeper  and  deeper. 


TWO  "  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY 


I  was  neither  seeing  nor  hearing  from  the 
Ellerslys,  father  or  son ;  but,  as  I  knew  why,  I  was 
not  disquieted.  I  had  made  them  temporarily 
easy  in  their  finances  just  before  that  dinner, 
and  they,  being  fatuous,  incurable  optimists,  were 
probably  imagining  they  would  never  need  me 
again,  I  did  not  disturb  them  until  Monson  and  I 
had  got  my  education  so  well  under  way  that 
even  I,  always  severe  in  self-criticism  and  now 
merciless,  was  compelled  to  admit  to  myself  a 
distinct  change  for  the  better.  You  know  how  it 
is  with  a  boy  at  the  "  growing  age  "  —  how  he 
bursts  out  of  clothes  and  ideas  of  life  almost  as 
fast  as  they  are  supplied  him,  so  swiftly  is  he 
transforming  into  a  man.  Well,  I  think  it  is 
much  that  way  with  us  Americans  all  our  lives; 
we  continue  on  and  on  at  the  growing  age.  And 
if  one  of  us  puts  his  or  her  mind  hard  upon 
growth  in  some  particular  direction,  you  see  al- 

101 


I02  THE  DELUGE 

most  overnight  a  development  fledged  to  the  last 
tail-feathers  and  tip  of  top-knot  where  there  was 
nothing  at  all.  [What  miracles  can  be  wrought 
by  an  open  mind  and  a  keen  sense  of  the  cumula 
tive  power  of  the  unwasted  minute!  All  this 
apropos  of  a  very  trivial  matter,  you  may  be 
thinking.  But,  be  careful  how  you  judge  what  is 
trivial  and  what  important  in  a  universe  built  up 
of  atoms. 

However —  When  my  education  seemed  far 
enough  advanced,  I  sent  for  Sam.  He,  after  his 
footless  fashion,  didn't  bother  to  acknowledge 
my  note.  His  margin  account  with  me  was  at 
the  moment  straight;  I  turned  to  his  father.  I 
had  my  cashier  send  him  a  formal,  type-written 
letter  signed  Blacklock  &  Co.,  informing  him  that 
his  account  was  overdrawn  and  that  we  "  would 
be  obliged  if  he  would  give  the  matter  his  imme 
diate  attention."  The  note  must  have  reached 
him  the  following  morning;  but  he  did  not  come 
until,  after  waiting  three  days,  "  we  "  sent  him 
a  sharp  demand  for  a  check  for  the  balance 
due  us. 

A  pleasing,  aristocratic-looking  figure  he  made 
as  he  entered  my  office,  with  his  air  of  the  man 
whose  hands  have  never  known  the  stains  of  toil. 


TWO  "  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY  " 


103 


with  his  manner  of  having  always  received  defer 
ential  treatment.  There  was  no  pretense  in  my 
curt  greeting,  my  tone  of  "  despatch  your  busi 
ness,  sir,  and  be  gone  "  ;  for  I  was  both  busy  and 
much  irritated  against  him.  "  I  guess  you  want 
to  see  our  cashier,"  said  I,  after  giving  him  a 
hasty,  absent-minded  hand-shake.  "  My  boy  out 
there  will  take  you  to  him." 

The  old  do-nothing's  face  lost  its  confident, 
condescending  expression.  His  lip  quivered,  and 
I  think  there  were  tears  in  his  bad,  dim,  gray- 
green  eyes.  I  suppose  he  thought  his  a  pro 
foundly  pathetic  case;  no  doubt  he  hadn't  the  re 
motest  conception  what  he  really  was  —  and  no 
doubt,  also,  there  are  many  who  would  honestly 
take  his  view.  As  if  the  fact  that  he  was  born 
with  all  possible  advantages  did  not  make  him 
and  his  plight  inexcusable.  It  passes  my  com 
prehension  why  people  of  his  sort,  when  suffering 
from  the  calamities  they  have  deliberately 
brought  upon  themselves  by  laziness  and  self-in 
dulgence  and  extravagance,  should  get  a  sympa 
thy  that  is  withheld  from  those  of  the  honest 
human  rank  and  file  falling  into  far  more  real 
misfortunes  not  of  their  own  making. 

"  No,  my  dear  Blacklock,"  said  he,  cringing 


IO4 


THE  DELUGE 


now  as  easily  as  he  had  condescended  —  how  to 
cringe  and  how  to  condescend  are  taught  at  the 
same  school,  the  one  he  had  gone  to  all  his  life. 
"  It  is  you  I  want  to  talk  with.  And,  first,  I  owe 
you  my  apologies.  I  know  you'll  make  allow 
ances  for  one  who  was  never  trained  to  business 
methods.  I've  always  been  like  a  child  in  those 
matters." 

"  You  frighten  me,"  said  I.  "  The  last  '  gen 
tleman'  who  came  throwing  me  off  my  guard 
with  that  plea  was  shrewd  enough  to  get  away 
with  a  very  large  sum  of  my  hard-earned  money. 
Besides"  —  and  I  was  laughing,  though  not  too 
good-naturedly  — "  I've  noticed  that  you  '  gentle 
men  '  become  vague  about  business  only  when  the 
balance  is  against  you.  When  it's  in  your  favor, 
you  manage  to  get  your  minds  on  business  long 
enough  to  collect  to  the  last  fraction  of  a  cent." 

He  heartily  echoed  my  laugh.  "  I  only  wish 
I  were  clever,"  said  he.  "  However,  I've  come 
to  ask  your  indulgence.  I'd  have  been  here  be 
fore,  but  those  who  owe  me  have  been  putting  me 
off.  And  they're  of  the  sort  of  people  whom  it's 
impossible  to  press." 

"  I'd  like  to  accommodate  you  further,"  said 
I,  shedding  that  last  little  hint  as  a  cliff  sheds 


TWO  "PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY" 


105 


rain,  « '  but  your  account  has  been  in  an  unsatis 
factory  state  for  nearly  a  month  now." 

"I'm  sure  you'll  give  me  a  few  days  longer," 
was  his  easy  reply,  as  if  we  were  discussing  a 
trifle.  "  By  the  way,  you  haven't  been  to  see  us 
yet.  Only  this  morning  my  wife  was  wondering- 
when  you'd  come.  You  quite  captivated  her, 
Blacklock.  Can't  you  dine  with  us  to-morrow 
night  —  no,  Sunday  —  at  eight?  We're  having 
in  a  few  people  I  think  you'd  like  to  meet." 

If  any  one  imagines  that  this  bald,  business 
like  way  of  putting  it  set  my  teeth  on  edge,  let 
him  dismiss  the  idea;  my  nerves  had  been  too 
long  accustomed  to  the  feel  of  the  harsh  facts  of 
life.  It  is  evidence  of  the  shrewdness  of  the  old 
fellow  at  character-reading  that  he  wasted  none 
of  his  silk  and  velvet  pretenses  upon  me,  and  so 
saved  his  time  and  mine.  Probably  he  wished 
me  to  see  that  I  need  have  no  timidity  or  false 
shame  in  dealing  with  him,  that  when  the  time 
came  to  talk  business  I  was  free  to  talk  it  in  my 
own  straight  fashion. 

"Glad  to  come,"  said  I,  wishing  to  be  rid  of 
him,  now  that  my  point  was  gained.  "  We'll  let 
Lhe  account  stand  open  for  the  present  —  I  rather 
think  your  stocks  are  going  up.  Give  my  re- 


I06  THE  DELUGE 

gards  to  —  the  ladies,  please,  especially  to  Miss 
Anita." 

He  winced,  but  thanked  me  graciously;  gave 
me  his  soft,  fine  hand  to  shake  and  departed,  as 
eager  to  be  off  as  I  to  be  rid  of  him.  "  Sunday 
next  —  at  eight,"  were  his  last  words.  "  Don't 
fail  us  " —  that  in  the  tone  of  a  king  addressing 
some  obscure  person  whom  he  had  commanded  to 
court.  It  may  be  that  old  Ellersly  was  wholly 
unconscious  of  his  superciliousness,  fancied  he 
was  treating  me  as  if  I  were  almost  an  equal ;  but 
I  suspect  he  rather  accentuated  his  natural  man 
ner,  with  the  idea  of  impressing  upon  me  that  in 
our  deal  he  was  giving  at  least  as  much  as  I. 

I  recall  that  I  thought  about  him  for  several 
minutes  after  he  was  gone  —  philosophized  on 
the  folly  of  a  man's  deliberately  weaving  a  net  to 
entangle  himself*  As  if  any  man  was  ever 
caught  in  any  net  not  of  his  own  weaving  and  set 
ting;  as  if  I  myself  were  not  Just  then  working 
at  the  last  row  of  meshes  of  a  net  in  which  I 
was  to  ensnare  myself. 

My  petty  and  inevitable  success  witK  that  help 
less  creature  added  amazingly,  ludicrously,  to 
that  dangerous  elation  which,  as  I  can  now  see, 
haii  been  growing  in  me  ever  since  the  day  Roe- 


TWO  "PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY" 

buck  yielded  so  readily  to  my  demands  as  to  Na 
tional  Coal.  The  whole  trouble  with  me  was 
that  up  to  that  time  I  had  won  all  my  victories  by 
the  plainest  kind  of  straightaway  hard  work.  I 
was  imagining  myself  victor  in  contests  of  wit 
against  wit,  when,  in  fact,  no  one  with  any 
especial  equipment  of  brains  had  ever  opposed 
me;  all  the  really  strong  men  had  been  helping  me 
because  they  found  me  useful.  Too  easy  suc 
cess  —  there  is  the  clue  to  the  wild  folly  of  my 
performances  in  those  days,  a  folly  that  seems 
utterly  inconsistent  with  the  reputation  for 
shrewdness  I  had,  and  seemed  to  have  earned. 

I  can  find  a  certain  small  amount  of  legitimate 
excuse  for  my  falling  under  Langdon's  spell. 
He  had,  and  has,  fascinations,  through  personal 
magnetism,  which  it  is  hardly  in  human  nature 
to  resist.  But  for  my  self -hypnotism  in  the  case 
of  Roebuck,  I  find  no  excuse  whatever  for  my 
self. 

He  sent  for  me  and  told  me  what  share  in 
National  Coal  they  had  decided  to  give  me  for 
my  Manasquale  mines.  "  Langdon  and  Mel 
ville,"  said  he,  "think  me  too  liberal;  far  too 
liberal,  my  boy.  But  I  insisted  —  in  your  case  I 
felt  we  could  afford  to  be  generous  as  well  as 


108  THE  DELUGE 

just."  All  this  with  an  air  that  was  a  combina 
tion  of  the  pastor  and  the  parent. 

I  can't  even  offer  the  excuse  of  not  having  seen 
that  he  was  a  hypocrite.  I  felt  his  hypocrisy  at 
once,  and  my  first  impulse  was  to  jump  for  my 
breastworks.  But  instantly  my  vanity  got  be 
hind  me,  held  me  in  the  open,  pushed  me  on 
toward  him.  If  you  will  notice,  almost  all  "  con 
fidence  "  games  rely  for  success  chiefly  upon  en 
listing  a  man's  vanity  to  play  the  traitor  to  his 
judgment.  So,  instead  of  reading  his  liberality 
as  plain  proof  of  intended  treachery,  I  read  it  as 
plain  proof  of  my  own  greatness,  and  of  the  fear 
it  had  inspired  in  old  Roebuck,  Laugh  with 
me  if  you  like ;  but,  before  you  laugh  at  me,  think 
carefully  —  those  of  you  who  have  ever  put  your 
selves  to  the  test  on  the  field  of  action  —  think 
carefully  whether  you  have  never  found  that  your 
head  decoration  which  you  thought  a  crown  was 
in  reality  the  peaked  and  belled  cap  of  the  fool. 

But  my  vanity  was  not  done  with  me.  Led 
on  by  it,  I  proceeded  to  have  one  of  those  ridicu 
lous  "  generous  impulses  " —  I  persuaded  myself 
that  there  must  be  some  decency  in  this  liberality, 
in  addition  to  the  prudence  which  I  flattered  my 
self  was  the  chief  cause.  "  I  have  been  unjust 


TWO  "PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY" 

to  Roebuck,"  I  thought.  "  I  have  been  misjudg 
ing  his  character."  And  incredible  though  it 
seems,  I  said  to  him  with  a  good  deal  of  genuine 
emotion :  "  I  don't  know  how  to  thank  you,  Mr. 
Roebuck.  And,  instead  of  trying,  I  want  to 
apologize  to  you.  I  have  thought  many  hard 
things  against  you ;  have  spoken  some  of  them.  I 
had  better  have  been  attending  to  my  own  con 
science,  instead  of  criticizing  yours." 

I  had  often  thought  his  face  about  the  most 
repulsive,  hypocrisy-glozed  concourse  of  evil 
passions  that  ever  fronted  a  fiend  in  the  flesh. 
It  had  seemed  to  me  the  fitting  result  of  a  long 
career  which,  according  to  common  report,  was 
stained  with  murder,  with  rapacity  and  heartless 
cruelty,  with  the  most  brutal  secret  sensuality, 
and  which  had  left  in  its  wake  the  ruins  of  lives 
and  hearts  and  fortunes  innumerable.  I  had 
looked  on  the  vast  wealth  he  had  heaped  moun 
tain  high  as  a  monument  to  devil-daring  —  other 
men  had,  no  doubt,  dreamed  of  doing  the  fero 
cious  things  he  had  done,  but  their  weak,  human 
hearts  failed  when  it  came  to  executing  such  hor 
rible  acts,  and  they  had  to  be  content  with  small 
er  fortunes,  with  the  comparatively  small  fruits 
of  their  comparatively  small  infamies.  He  had 


HO  THE  DELUGE 

dared  all,  had  won;  the  most  powerful  bowed 
with  quaking  knees  before  him,  and  trembled  lest 
they  might,  by  a  blundering  look  or  word,  excite 
his  anger  and  cause  him  to  snatch  their  posses 
sions  from  them. 

Thus  I  had  regarded  him,  accepting  the  uni 
versal  judgment,  believing  the  thousand  and  one 
stories.  But  as  his  eyes,  softened  by  his  hugely 
generous  act,  beamed  upon  me  now,  I  was 
amazed  that  I  had  so  misjudged  him.  In  that 
face  which  I  had  thought  frightful  there  was,  to 
my  hypnotized  gaze,  the  look  of  strong,  sincere 
—  yes,  holy  —  beauty  and  power  —  the  look  of 
an  archangel. 

"  Thank  you,  Blacklock,"  said  he,  in  a  voice 
that  made  me  feel  as  if  I  were  a  little  boy  in  the 
crossroads  church,  believing  I  could  almost  see 
the  angels  floating  above  the  heads  of  the  singers 
in  the  choir  behind  the  preacher.  "  Thank  you. 
I  am  not  surprised  that  you  have  misjudged  me. 
God  has  given  me  a  great  work  to  do,  and  those 
who  do  His  will  in  this  wicked  world  must  ex 
pect  martyrdom.  I  should  never  have  had  the 
courage  to  do  what  I  have  done,  what  He  has 
done  through  me,  had  He  not  guided  my  every 
step.  You  are  not  a  religious  man  ?  " 


TWO  "  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY "  ITI 

"  I  try  to  do  what's  square,"  said  I.  "  But 
I'd  prefer  -not  to  talk  about  it." 

"That's  right!  That's  right!"  he  approved 
earnestly,  "A  man's  religion  is  a  matter  be 
tween  himself  and  his  God.  But  I  hope,  Mat 
thew,  you  will  never  forget  that,  unless  you  have 
daily,  hourly  communion  with  Almighty  God,  you 
will  never  be  able  to  bear  the  great  burdens,  to 
do  the  great  work  fearlessly,  disregarding  the  lies 
of  the  wicked,  and,  hardest  of  all  to  endure,  the 
honestly-mistaken  judgments  of  honest  men." 

"  I'll  -look  into  it,"  said  I.  And  I  don't  know 
to  what  lengths  of  foolish  speech  I  should  have 
gone  had  I  not  been  saved  by  an  office  boy  in 
terrupting  with  a  card  for  him. 

"  Ah,  here's  Walters  now,"  said  he.  Then  to 
the  boy :  "  Bring  him  in  when  I  ring/' 

I  rose  to  go. 

"  No,  sit  down,  Blacklock,"  he  insisted. 
"  You  are  in  with  us  now,  and  you  may  learn 
something  by  seeing  how  I  deal  with  the  larger 
problems  that  face  men  in  these  large  undertak 
ings,  the  problems  that  have  faced  me  in  each  new 
enterprise  I  have  inaugurated  to  the  glory  of 
God." 

Naturally,  I  accepted  with  enthusiasm. 


II2  THE  DELUGE 

You  would  not  believe  what  a  mood  I  had  by 
this  time  been  worked  into  by  my  rampant  and 
raging  vanity  and  emotionalism  and  by  his  snake- 
like  charming.  "  Thank  you,"  I  said,  with  an 
energetic  warmth  that  must  have  secretly  amused 
him  mightily. 

"  When  my  reorganization  of  the  iron  indus 
try  proved  such  a  great  success,  and  God  re 
warded  my  labors  with  large  returns/'  he  went 
on,  "  I  looked  about  me  to  see  what  new  work 
He  wished  me  to  undertake,  how  He  wished  me 
to  invest  His  profits.  And  I  saw  the  coal  indus 
try  and  the  coal-carrying  railroads  in  confusion, 
with  waste  on  every  side,  and  godless  competi 
tion.  Thousands  of  widows  and  orphans  who 
had  invested  in  coal  railways  and  mines  were  get 
ting  no  returns.  Labor  was  fitfully  employed, 
owing  to  alternations  of  over-production  and  no 
production  at  all.  I  saw  my  work  ready  for  my 
hand.  And  now  we  are  bringing  order  out  of 
chaos.  This  man  Walters,  useful  up  to  a  certain 
point,  has  become  insolent,  corrupt,  a  stumbling- 
block  in  our  way."  Here  he  pressed  the  button 
of  his  electric  bell. 


XI 

WHEN  A  MAN  IS  NOT  A  MAN 

Walters  entered.  He  was  one  of  the  great 
railway  presidents,  was  universally  regarded  as  a 
power,  though  I,  of  course,  knew  that  he,  like  so 
many  other  presidents  of  railways,  of  individual 
corporations,  of  banks,  of  insurance  companies, 
and  high  political  officials  in  cities,  states  and  the 
nation,  was  little  more  than  a  figurehead  put  up 
and  used  by  the  inside  financial  ring.  As  he 
shifted  from  leg  to  leg,  holding  his  hat  and  try 
ing  to  steady  his  twitching  upper  lip,  he  looked 
as  one  of  his  smallest  section-bosses  would  have 
looked,  if  called  up  for  a  wigging. 

Roebuck  shook  hands  cordially  with  him,  re 
sponded  to  his  nervous  glance  at  me  with: 
"  Blacklock  is  practically  in  our  directory."  We 
all  sat,  then  Roebuck  began  in  his  kindliest  tone : 

"  We  have  decided,  Walters,  that  we  must  give 
your  place  to  a  stronger  man.  Your  gross  re 
ceipts,  outside  of  coal,  have  fallen  rapidly  and 
113 


-    THE  DELUGE 

steadily  for  the  past  three  quarters.  You  were 
put  into  the  presidency  to  bring  them  up.  They 
have  shown  no  change  beyond  what  might  have 
been  expected  in  the  natural  fluctuations  of 
freight.  We  calculated  on  resuming  dividends  a 
year  ago.  We  have  barely  been  able  to  meet 
the  interest  on  our  bonds." 

"  But,  Mr.  Roebuck,"  pleaded  Walters,  "  you 
doubled  the  bonded  indebtedness  of  the  road  just 
before  I  took  charge." 

"  The  money  went  into  improvements,  into  in 
creasing  your  facilities,  did  it  not?"  inquired 
Roebuck,  his  paw  as  soft  as  a  playful  tiger's. 

"Part  of  it,"  said  Walters.  "But  you  re^ 
member  the  reorganizing  syndicate  got  five  mil 
lions,  and  then  the  contracts  for  the  new  work 
had  to  be  given  to  construction  companies  in 
which  directors  of  the  road  were  silent  partners. 
Then  they  are  interested  in  the  supply  companies 
from  which  I  must  buy.  You  know  what  all 
that  means,  Mr.  Roebuck." 

"  No  doubt,"  said  Roebuck,  still  smooth  and 
soft.  "  But  if  there  was  waste^  you  should  have 
reported " 

"To  whom?"  demanded  Walters.  "  Every 
one  of  our  directors,  including  yourself,  Mr. 


WHEN  A  MAN  IS  NOT  A  MAN 

Roebuck,  is  a  stock-holder  —  a  large  stock-holder 
—  in  one  or  more  of  those  companies." 

"Have  you  proof  of  this,  Walters?"  asked 
Roebuck,  looking  profoundly  shocked.  "  It's  a 
very  grave  charge  —  a  criminal  charge." 

"Proof?"  said  Walters.  "You  know  how 
that  is.  The  real  books  of  all  big  companies  are 
kept  in  the  memories  of  the  directors  —  and 
mighty  treacherous  memories  they  are."  This 
with  a  nervous  laugh.  "  As  for  the  holdings  of 
directors  in  construction  and  supply  companies  — 
most  of  those  holdings  are  in  other  names  —  all 
of  them  are  disguised  where  the  connection  is 
direct." 

Roebuck  shook  his  head  sadly.  "  You  admit, 
then,  that  you  have  allowed  millions  of  the  road's 
money  to  be  wasted,  that  you  made  no  complaint, 
no  effort  to  stop  the  waste ;  and  your  only  defense 
is  that  you  suspect  the  directors  of  fraud.  And 
you  accuse  them  to  excuse  yourself  —  accuse 
them  with  no  proof.  Were  you  in  any  of  those 
companies,  Walters  ?  " 

"  No,"  he  said,  his  eyes  shifting. 

Roebuck's  face  grew  stern.  **You  bought 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the  last  issue 
of  government  bonds,  they  tell  me,  with  your 


H6  THE  DELUGE 

two  years'  profits  from  the  Western  Railway 
Construction  Company." 

"  I  bought  no  bonds,"  blustered  Walters. 
"  What  money  I  have  I  made  out  of  speculating 
in  the  stock  of  my  road  —  on  legitimate  inside 
information." 

"  Your  uncle  in  Wilkesbarre,  I  meant/'  pur 
sued  Roebuck. 

Walters  reddened,  looked  straight  at  Roebuck 
without  speaking. 

"  Do  you  still  deny  ?  "  demanded  Roebuck. 

"  I  saw  everybody  —  everybody  —  grafting," 
said  Walters  boldly,  "  and  I  thought  I  might  as 
well  take  my  share.  It's  part  of  the  business." 
Then  he  added  cynically :  "  That's  the  way  it  is 
nowadays.  The  lower  ones  see  the  higher  ones 
raking  off,  and  they  rake  off,  too  —  down  to  con 
ductors  and  brakemen.  We  caught  some  track 
walkers  in  a  conspiracy  to  dispose  of  the  dis 
carded  ties  and  rails  the  other  day."  He 
laughed.  "  We  jailed  them." 

"If  you  can  show  that  any  director  has  taken 
anything  that  did  not  belong  to  him,  if  you  can 
show  that  a  single  contract  you  let  to  a  construc 
tion  or  a  supply  company  —  except,  of  course,  the 
contracts  you  let  to  yourself  —  of  them  I  know 


WHEN  A  MAN  IS  NOT  A  MAN 

nothing,  suspect  much  —  if  you  can  show  one 
instance  of  these  criminal  doings,  Mr.  Walters, 
I  shall  back  you  up  with  all  my  power  in  prose 
cution." 

"Of  course  I  can't  show  it,"  cried  Walters. 
"  If  I  tried,  wouldn't  they  ruin  and  disgrace  me, 
perhaps  send  me  to  the  penitentiary?  Wasn't  I 
the  one  that  passed  on  and  signed  their  contracts  ? 
And  wouldn't  they  —  wouldn't  you,  Mr.  Roe 
buck —  have  fired  me  if  I  had  refused  to  sign?  " 

"  Excuses,  excuses,  Walters,"  was  Roebuck's 
answer,  with  a  sad,  disappointed  look,  as  if  he 
had  hoped  Walters  would  make  a  brighter  show 
ing  for  himself.  "  How  many  times  have  you 
yourself  talked  to  me  of  this  eternal  excuse  habit 
of  men  who  fail?  And  if  I  expended  my  limited 
brain-power  in  looking  into  all  the  excuses  and 
explanations,  what  energy  or  time  would  I  have 
for  constructive  work?  All  I  can  do  is  to  select 
a  man  for  a  position  and  to  judge  him  by  results. 
You  were  put  in  charge  to  produce  dividends. 
You  haven't  produced  them.  I'm  sorry,  and  I 
venture  to  hope  that  things  are  not  so  bad  as 
you  make  out  in  your  eagerness  to  excuse  your 
self.  For  the  sake  of  old  times,  Tom,  I  ignore 
your  angry  insinuations  against  me.  I  try  to  be 


THE  DELUGE 

just,  and  to  be  just  one  must  always  be  imper 
sonal." 

"  Well,"  said  Walters  with  an  air  of  despera 
tion,  "  give  me  another  year,  Mr.  Roebuck,  and 
I'll  produce  results  all  right.  I'll  break  the  agree 
ments  and  cut  rates.  I'll  freeze  out  the  branch 
roads  and  our  minority  stock-holders.  I'll  keep 
the  books  so  that  all  the  expert  accountants  in 
New  York  couldn't  untangle  them.  I'll  wink  at 
and  commit  and  order  committed  all  the  neces 
sary  crimes.  I  don't  know  why  I've  been  so 
squeamish,  when  there  were  so  many  penitentiary 
offenses  that  I  did  consent  to,  and,  for  that  mat 
ter,  commit,  without  a  quiver.  I  thought  I  ought 
to  draw  the  line  somewhere  —  and  I  drew  it  at 
keeping  my  personal  word  and  at  keeping  the 
books  reasonably  straight.  But  I'll  go  the  limit/' 

I'll  never  forget  Roebuck's  expression;  it  was 
perfect,  simply  perfect  —  a  great  and  good  man 
outraged  beyond  endurance,  but  a  Christian  still. 
"  You  have  made  it  impossible  for  me  to  temper 
justice  with  mercy,  Walters,"  said  he.  "  If  it 
were  not  for  the  long  years  of  association,  for  the 
affection  for  you  which  has  grown  up  in  me,  I 
should  hand  you  over  to  the  fate  you  have  earned. 
You  tell  me  you  have  been  committing  crimes  in 


WHEN  A  MAN  IS  NOT  A  MAN 

my  service.     You  tell  me  you  will  commit  more 
and  greater  crimes.     I  can  scarcely  believe  my 


own  ears." 


Walters  laughed  scornfully  —  the  reckless 
laugh  of  a  man  who  suddenly  sees  that  he  is  cor 
nered  and  must  fight  for  his  life.  "Rot!"  he 
jeered.  "Rot!  You  always  have  been  a  won 
der  at  juggling  with  your  conscience.  But  do 
you  expect  me  to  believe  you  think  yourself  in 
nocent  because  you  do  not  yourself  execute  the 
orders  you  issue  —  orders  that  can  be  carried 
out  only  by  committing  crimes  ?  "  Walters  was 
now  beside  himself  with  rage.  He  gave  the  reins 
to  that  high  horse  he  had  been  riding  ever  since 
he  was  promoted  to  the  presidency  of  the  great 
coal  road.  He  began  to  lay  on  whip  and  spur. 
"  Do  you  think,"  he  cried  to  Roebuck,  "  the  blood 
of  those  five  hundred  men  drowned  in  the  Pe- 
quot  mine  is  not  on  your  hands  —  your  head? 
You,  who  ordered  John  Wilkinson  to  suppress 
the  competition  the  Pequot  was  giving  you,  or 
dered  him  in  such  a  way  that  he  knew  the  alter 
native  was  his  own  ruin?  He  shot  himself  — 
yet  he  had  as  good  an  excuse  as  you,  for  he,  too, 
passed  on  the  order  until  it  got  to  the  poor  fire 
man  —  that  wretched  fellow  they  sent  to  the  peni- 


I2o  THE  DELUGE 

tentiary  for  life?  And  as  sure  as  there  is  a  God 
in  Heaven,  you  will  some  day  do  a  long,  long 
sentence  in  whatever  hell  there  is,  for  letting  that 
wretch  rot  in  prison  —  yes,  and  for  John  Wilkin 
son's  suicide,  and  for  the  lives  of  those  five  hun 
dred  drowned.  Your  pensions  to  the  widows 
and  orphans  can't  save  you." 

I  listened  to  this  tirade  astounded.  Used  as  I 
was  to  men  losing  their  heads  through  vanity,  I 
could  not  credit  my  own  ears  and  eyes  when  they 
reported  to  me  this  insane  exhibition.  I  looked 
at  Roebuck.  He  was  wearing  an  expression  of 
beatific  patience ;  he  would  have  made  a  fine  study 
for  a  picture  of  the  martyr  at  the  stake. 

"  I  forgive  you,  Tom,"  he  said,  when  Walters 
stopped  for  breath.  "  Your  own  sinful  heart 
makes  you  see  the  black  of  sin  upon  everything. 
I  had  heard  that  you  were  going  about  making 
loud  boasts  of  your  power  over  your  employers, 
but  I  tried  not  to  believe  it.  I  see  now  that  you 
have,  indeed,  lost  your  senses.  Your  prosperity 
has  been  too  much  for  your  good  sense."  He 
sighed  mournfully.  "  I  shall  not  interfere  to 
prevent  your  getting  a  position  elsewhere,"  he 
continued.  "  But  after  what  you  have  confessed, 
after  your  slanders,  how  can  I  put  you  back  in 


WHEN  A  MAN  IS  NOT  A  MAN  I2i 

your  old  place  out  West,  as  I  intended?  How 
can  I  continue  the  interest  in  you  and  care  for 
your  career  that  I  have  had,  in  spite  of  all  your 
shortcomings?  I  who  raised  you  up  from  a 
clerk." 

"  Raised  me  up  as  you  fellows  always  raise 
men  up  —  because  you  find  them  clever  at  doing 
your  dirty  work.  I  was  a  decent,  honest  fellow 
when  you  first  took  notice  of  me  and  tempted  me. 
But,  by  God,  Mr.  Roebuck,  if  I've  sold  out  be 
yond  hope  of  living  decent  again,  I'll  have  my 
price  —  to  the  last  cent.  You've  got  to  leave  me 
where  I  am  or  give  me  a  place  and  salary  equally 
as  good."  This  Walters  said  bluster ingly,  but 
beneath  I  could  detect  the  beginnings  of  a  whine. 

"  You  are  angry,  Tom,"  said  Roebuck  sooth 
ingly.  "  I  have  hurt  your  vanity  — >  it  is  one  of 
the  heaviest  crosses  I  have  to  bear,  that  I  must 
be  continually  hurting  the  vanity  of  men.  Go 
away  and  —  and  calm  down.  Think  the  situa 
tion  over  coolly ;  then  come  and  apologize  to  me, 
and  I  will  do  what  I  can  to  help  you.  As  for 
your  threats  —  when  you  are  calm,  you  will  see 
how  idle  they  are/' 

Walters  gave  a  sort  of  groan;  and  though  I, 
blinded  by  my  prejudices  in  favor  of  Rdebuck 


122  THE  DELUGE 

and  of  the  crowd  with  whom  my  interests  lay, 
had  been  feeling  that  he  was  an  impudent  and 
crazy  ingrate,  I  pitied  him. 

"  What  proofs  have  I  got  ?  "  he  said  desperate 
ly.  "  If  I  show  up  the  things  I  know  about,  I 
show  up  myself,  and  everybody  will  say  I'm  lying 
about  you  and  the  others  in  the  effort  to  save 
myself.  The  newspapers  would  denounce  me  as 
a  treacherous  liar  —  you  fellows  own  or  control 
or  foozle  them  in  one  way  and  another.  And  if 
I  was  believed,  who'd  prosecute  you  and  what 
court'd  condemn  you?  Don't  you  own  both  po 
litical  parties  and  make  all  the  tickets,  and  can't 
you  ruin  any  office-holders  who  lifted  a  finger 
against  you  ?  What  a  hell  of  a  state  of  affairs !  " 

A  swifter  or  a  weaker  descent  I  never  wit 
nessed.  My  pity  changed  to  contempt.  "  This 
fellow,  with  his  great  reputation,"  thought  I,  "  is 
a  fool  and  a  knave,  and  a  weak  one  at  that" 

"  Go  away  now,  Tom,"  said  Roebuck. 
"  When  you're  master  of  yourself  again,  come 
to  see  me," 

"Master  of  myself!"  cried  Walters  bitterly. 
"  Who  that's  got  anything  to  lose  is  master  of 
himself  in  this  country  ?  "  With  shoulders  sag 
ging  and  a  sort  of  stumble  in  his  gait,  he  went 


.WHEN  A  MAN  IS  NOT  A  MAN 

toward  the  door.  He  paused  there  to  say: 
"  I've  served  too  long,  Mr.  Roebuck.  There's  no 
fight  in  me.  I  thought  there  was,  but  there  ain't. 
Do  the  best  you  can  for  me."  And  he  took  him 
self  out  of  our  sight. 

You  will  wonder  how  I  was  ever  able  to  blind 
myself  to  the  reality  of  this  frightful  scene.  But 
please  remember  that  in  this  world  every  thought 
and  every  act  is  a  mixture  of  the  good  and  the 
bad;  and  the  one  or  the  other  shows  the  more: 
prominently  according  to  one's  point  of  view.. 
There  probably  isn't  a  criminal  in  any  cell,  any 
where,  no  matter  what  he  may  say  in  sniveling 
pretense  in  the  hope  of  lighter  sentence,  who 
doesn't  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart  believe  his 
crime  or  crimes  somehow  justifiable  —  and  who 
couldn't  make  out  a  plausible  case  for  himself. 

At  that  time  I  was  stuffed  with  the  arrogance 
of  my  fancied  membership  in  the  caste  of  direct 
ing  financial  geniuses;  I  was  looking  at  every 
thing  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  brotherhood  of 
which  Roebuck  was  the  strongest  brother,  and  of 
which  I  imagined  myself  a  full  and  equal  mem 
ber.  I  did  not,  I  could  not,  blind  myself  to  the 
vivid  reminders  of  his  relentlessness ;  but  I  knew 
too  well  how  necessary  the  iron  hand  and  the- 


124 


THE  DELUGE 


fixed  purpose  are  to  great  affairs  to  judge  him  as 
infuriated  ;Walters,  with  his  vanity  savagely 
wounded,  was  judging  him.  I'd  as  soon  have 
thought  of  describing  General  Grant  as  a  murder 
er,  because  he  ordered  the  battles  in  which  men 
were  killed  or  because  he  planned  and  led  the  cam 
paigns  in  which  subordinates  committed  rapine 
and  pillage  and  assassination.  I  did  not  then  see 
the  radical  difference  —  did  not  realize  that  while 
Grant's  work  was  at  the  command  of  patriotism 
.and  necessity,  there  was  no  necessity  whatever 
for  Roebuck's  getting  rich  but  the  command  of 
his  own  greedy  and  cruel  appetites. 

Don't  misunderstand  me.  My  morals  are 
practical,  not  theoretical.  Men  must  die,  old  cus 
toms  embodied  in  law  must  be  broken,  the  venal 
must  be  bribed  and  the  weak  cowed  and  com 
pelled,  in  order  that  civilization  may  advance. 
You  can't  establish  a  railway  or  a  great  industrial 
^system  by  rose-water  morality.  But  I  shall  show, 
before  I  finish,  that  Roebuck  and  his  gang  of  so- 
called  "organizers  of  industry"  bear  about  the 
same  relation  to  industry  that  the  boll  weevil  bears 
to  the  cotton  crop. 

I'll  withdraw  this,  if  any  one  can  show  me  that, 
as  the  result  of  the  activities  of  those  parasites, 


WHEN  A  MAN  IS  NOT  A  MAN 

anybody  anywhere  is  using  or  is  able  to  use  a 
single  pound  or  bushel  or  yard  more  of  any  com 
modity  whatsoever.  I'll  withdraw  it,  if  I  can 
not  show  that  but  for  those  parasites,  bearing 
precisely  the  same  relation  to  our  society  that  the 
kings  and  nobles  and  priests  bore  to  France  before 
the  Revolution,  everybody  except  them  would 
have  more  goods  and  more  money  than  they  have 
under  the  system  that  enables  these  parasites  to 
overshadow  the  highways  of  commerce  with  their 
strongholds  and  to  clog  them  with  their  toll- 
gates.  They  know  little  about  producing,  about 
manufacturing,  about  distributing,  about  any  pro 
cess  of  industry.  Their  skill  is  in  temptation,  in 
trickery  and  in  terror. 

On  that  day,  however,  I  sided  —  honestly,  as 
I  thought  —  with  Roebuck.  What  I  saw  and 
heard  increased  my  admiration  of  the  man,  my 
already  profound  respect  for  his  master  mind. 
And  when,  just  after  Walters  went  out,  he  leaned 
back  in  his  chair  and  sat  silent  with  closed  eyes 
and  moving  lips,  I  —  yes,  I,  Matt  Blacklock, 
"  Black  Matt,"  as  they  call  me  —  was  awed  in 
the  presence  of  this  great  and  good  man  at  prayer ! 

How  he  and  that  God  of  his  must  have  laughed 
at  me!  So  infatuated  was  I  that,  clear  as  it  is 


126  THE  DELUGE 

that  he'd  never  have  let  me  be  present  at  such  a 
scene  without  a  strong  ulterior  motive,  not  until 
he  himself  long  afterward  made  it  impossible  for 
me  to  deceive  myself  did  I  penetrate  to  his  real 
purpose  —  that  he  wished  to  fill  me  with  a  pru 
dent  dread  and  fear  of  him,  with  a  sense  of  the 
absoluteness  of  his  power  and  of  the  hopelessness 
of  trying  to  combat  it  But  at  the  time  I  thought 
—  imbecile  that  my  vanity  had  made  me  —  at 
the  time  I  thought  he  had  let  me  be  present  be 
cause  he  genuinely  liked,  admired  and  trusted 
me! 

Is  it  not  amazing  that  one  who  could  fall  into 
such  colossal  blunders  should  survive  to  tell  of 
them?  I  would  not  have  survived  had  not  Roe 
buck  and  his  crowd  been  at  the  same  time  making 
an  even  more  colossal  misestimate  of  me  than  I 
was  making  of  them.  My  attack  of  vanity  was 
violent,  but  temporary ;  theirs  was  equally  violent, 
and  chronic  and  incurable  to  boot. 


XXI 

'ANITA 

On  my  first  day  in  long  trousers  I  may  have 
been  more  ill  at  ease  than  I  was  that  Sunday 
evening  at  the  Ellerslys';  but  I  doubt  it. 

When  I  came  into  their  big  drawing-room  and 
took  a  look  round  at  the  assembled  guests,  I  never 
felt  more  at  home  in  my  life.  "  Yes/'  said  I  to 
myself,  as  Mrs.  Ellersly  was  greeting  me  and  as 
I  noted  the  friendly  interest  in  the  glances  of 
the  women,  "  this  is  where  I  belong.  I'm  begin 
ning  to  come  into  my  own." 

As  I  look  back  on  it  now,  I  can't  refrain  from 
smiling  at  my  own  simplicity  —  and  snobbish 
ness.  For,  so  determined  was  I  to  believe  what 
I  was  working  for  was  worth  while,  that  I  actual 
ly  fancied  there  were  upon  these  in  reality  ordi 
nary  people,  ordinary  in  looks,  ordinary  in  in 
telligence,  some  subtle  marks  of  superiority,  that 
made  them  at  a  glance  superior  to  the  common 
run.  This  ecstasy  of  snobbishness  deluded  me 
127 


I28  THE  DELUGE 

as  to  the  women  only  —  for,  as  I  looked  at  the 
men,  I  at  once  felt  myself  their  superior.  They 
were  an  inconsequential,  patterned  lot.  I  even 
was  better  dressed  than  any  of  them,  except  pos 
sibly  Mowbray  Langdon;  and,  if  he  showed  to 
more  advantage  than  I,  it  was  because  of  his 
manner,  which,  as  I  have  probably  said  before,  is 
superior  to  that  of  any  human  being  I've  ever 
seen — -man  or  woman. 

"  You  are  to  take  Anita  in/'  said  Mrs.  Ellersly. 
With  a  laughable  sense  that  I  was  doing  myself 
proud,  I  crossed  the  room  easily  and  took  my 
stand  in  front  of  her.  She  shook  hands  with  me 
politely  enough.  Langdon  was  sitting  beside 
her;  I  had  interrupted  their  conversation. 

"Hello,  Blacklock!"  said  Langdon,  with  a 
quizzical,  satirical  smile  with  the  eyes  only.  "  It 
seems  strange  to  see  you  at  such  peaceful  pur 
suits."  His  glance  traveled  over  me  critically  — - 
and  that  was  the  beginning  of  my  trouble.  Pres 
ently,  he  rose,  left  me  alone  with  her. 

"  You  know  Mr.  Langdon  ? "  she  said,  ob 
viously  because  she  felt  she  must  say  something. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  I  replied.  "  We  are  old  friends. 
What  a  tremendous  swell  he  is  —  really  a  swell." 
This  with  enthusiasm. 


ANITA 

She  made  no  comment.  I  debated  with  my 
self  whether  to  go  on  talking  of  Langdon.  ,  I  de 
cided  against  it  because  all  I  knew  of  him  had  to 
do  with  matters  down  town  —  and  Monson  had 
impressed  it  upon  me  that  down  town  was  taboo 
in  the  drawing-room.  I  rummaged  my  brain  in 
vain  for  another  and  suitable  topic. 

She  sat,  and  I  stood  —  she  tranquil  and  beau 
tiful  and  cold,  I  every  instant  more  miserably 
self-conscious.  When  the  start  for  the  dining- 
room  was  made  I  offered  her  my  left  arm,  though 
I  had  carefully  planned  beforehand  just  what 
I  would  do.  She  —  without  hesitation  and,  as  I 
know  now,  out  of  sympathy  for  me  in  my  suffer 
ing  —  was  taking  my  wrong  arm,  when  it  flashed 
on  me  like  a  blinding  blow  in  the  face  that  I 
ought  to  be  on  the  other  side  of  her.  I  got  red, 
tripped  in  the  far-sprawling  train  of  Mrs.  Lang 
don,  tore  it  slightly,  tried  to  get  to  the  other  side 
of  Miss  Ellersly  by  walking  in  front  of  her,  re 
covered  myself  somehow,  stumbled  round  behind 
her,  walked  on  her  train  and  finally  arrived  at  her 
left  side,  conscious  in  every  red-hot  atom  of  me 
that  I  was  making  a  spectacle  of  myself  and  that 
the  whole  company  was  enjoying  it.  I  must  have 
seemed  to  them  an  ignorant  boor;  in  fact,  I  had 


I3o  THE  DELUGE 

^been  about  a  great  deal  among  people  who  knew 
how  to  behave,  and  had  I  never  given  the  matter 
•of  how  to  conduct  myself  on  that  particular  oc 
casion  an  instant's  thought,  I  should  have  got  on 
without  the  least  trouble. 

It  was  with  a  sigh  of  profound  relief  that  I 
sank  upon  the  chair  between  Miss  Ellersly  and 
Mrs.  Langdon,  safe  from  danger  of  making 
"  breaks,"  so  I  hoped,  for  the  rest  of  the  evening. 
But  within  a  very  few  minutes  I  realized  that  my 
little  misadventure  had  unnerved  me.  My  hands 
were  trembling  so  that  I  could  scarcely  lift  the 
soup  spoon  to  my  lips,  and  my  throat  had  got  so 
far  beyond  control  that  I  had  difficulty  in  swal 
lowing.  Miss  Ellersly  and  Mrs.  Langdon  were 
each  busy  with  the  man  on  the  other  side  of  her; 
I  was  left  to  my  own  reflections,  and  I  was  not 
sure  whether  this  made  me  more  or  less  uncom 
fortable.  To  add  to  my  torment,  I  grew  angry, 
furiously  angry,  with  myself.  I  looked  up  and 
down  and  across  the  big  table;  noted  all  these 
self-satisfied  people  perfectly  at  their  ease;  and 
I  said  to  myself :  "  What's  the  matter  with  you, 
Matt?  They're  only  men  and  women,  and  by 
no  means  the  best  specimens  of  the  breed. 
You've  got  more  brains  than  all  of  'em  put  to- 


ANITA  I3I 

gether,  probably;  is  there  one  of  the  lot  that 
could  get  a  job  at  good  wages  if  thrown  on 
the  world?  What  do  you  care  what  they  think 
of  you  ?  It's  a  damn  sight  more  important  what 
you  think  of  them;  as  it  won't  be  many  years 
before  you'll  hold  everything  they  value,  every 
thing  that  makes  them  of  consequence,  in  the 
hollow  of  your  hand." 

But  it  was  of  no  use.  When  Miss  Ellersly 
finally  turned  her  face  toward  me  to  indicate  that 
she  would  be  graciously  pleased  to  listen  if  I  had 
anything  to  communicate,  I  felt  as  if  I  were 
slowly  wilting,  felt  my  throat  contracting  into 
a  dry  twist.  What  was  the  matter  with  me? 
Partly,  of  course,  my  own  snobbishness,  which 
led  me  to  attach  the  same  importance  to  those 
people  that  the  snobbishness  of  the  small  and 
silly  had  got  them  in  the  way  of  attaching  to 
themselves.  But  the  chief  cause  of  my  inability 
was  Monson  and  his  lessons.  I  had  thought  I 
was  estimating  at  its  proper  value  what  he  was 
teaching.  But  so  earnest  and  serious  am  I  by 
nature,  and  so  earnest  and  serious  was  he  about 
those  trivialities  that  he  had  been  brought  up 
to  regard  as  the  whole  of  life,  that  I  had  uncon 
sciously  absorbed  his  attitude;  I  was  like  a  fel- 


I32  THE  DELUGE 

low  who,  after  cramming  hard  for  an  examina 
tion,  finds  that  all  the  questions  put  to  him  are 
on  things  he  hasn't  looked  at.  I  had  been  mak 
ing  an  ass  of  myself,  and  that  evening  I  got  the 
first  instalment  of  my  sound  and  just  punish 
ment.  I  who  had  prided  myself  on  being  ready 
for  anything  or  anybody,  I  who  had  laughed 
contemptuously  when  I  read  how  men  and  wom 
en,  presented  at  European  courts,  made  fools  of 
themselves  —  I  was  made  ridiculous  by  these 
people  who,  as  I  well  know,  had  nothing  to  back 
their  pretensions  to  superiority  but  a  barefaced 
bluff. 

Perhaps,  had  I  thought  this  out  at  the  table, 
I  should  have  got  back  to  myself  and  my  normal 
ease:  but  I  didn't,  and  that  long  and  terrible 
dinner  was  one  long  and  terrible  agony  of  stage 
fright.  When  the  ladies  withdrew,  the  other 
men  drew  together,  talking  of  people  I  did  not 
know  and  of  things  I  did  not  care  about  —  I 
thought  then  that  they  were  avoiding  me  delib 
erately  as  a  flock  of  tame  ducks  avoids  a  wild 
one  that  some  wind  has  accidentally  blown  down 
among  them.  I  know  now  that  my  forbidding 
aspect  must  have  been  responsible  for  my  isola 
tion,  However,  I  sat  alone,  sullenly  resisting 


ANITA  I33 

old  Ellersly's  constrained  efforts  to  get  me  into 
the  conversation,  and  angrily  suspicious  that 
Langdon  was  enjoying  my  discomfiture  more 
than  the  cigarette  he  was  apparently  absorbed  in. 

Old  Ellersly,  growing  more  and  more  nervous 
before  my  dark  and  sullen  look,  finally  seated 
himself  beside  me.  "  I  hope  you'll  stay  after  the 
others  have  gone,"  said  he.  "  They'll  leave  early, 
and  we  can  have  a  quiet  smoke  and  talk." 

All  unstrung  though  I  was,  I  yet  had  the  des 
perate  courage  to  resolve  that  I'd  not  leave,  de 
feated  in'  the  eyes  of  the  one  person  whose  opin 
ion  I  really  cared  about.  "Very;  well,"  said  I, 
in  reply  to  him. 

He  and  I  did  not  follow  the  others  to  the  draw 
ing-room^  but  turned  into  the  library  adjoining. 
From  where  I  seated  myself  I  could  see  part  of 
the  drawing-room  —  saw  the  others  leaving,  saw 
Langdon  lingering,  ignoring  the  impatient 
glances  of  his  wife,  while  he  talked  on  and  on 
with  Miss  Ellersly.  Her  face  was  full  toward 
me ;  she  was  not  aware  that  I  was  looking  at  her, 
I  am  sure,  for  she  did  not  once  lift  her  eyes.  As 
I  sat  studying  her,  everything  else  was  crowded 
out  of  my  mind.  She  was  indeed  wonderful  — 
too  wonderful  and  fine  and  fragile,  it  seemed  tG 


134  THE  DELUGE 

me  at  that  moment,  for  one  so  plain  and  rough  as 
I.  "Incredible,"  thought  I,  "that  she  is  the 
child  of  such  a  pair  as  Ellersly  and  his  wife — • 
but  again,  has  she  any  less  in  common  with  them 
than  she'd  have  with  any  other  pair  of  human 
creatures  ?  "  Her  slender  white  arms,  her  slender 
white  shoulders,  the  bloom  on  her  skin,  the  grace 
ful,  careless  way  her  hair  grew  round  her  fore 
head  and  at  the  nape  of  her  neck,  the  rather 
haughty  expression  of  her  small  face  softened 
into  sweetness  and  even  tenderness,  now  that  she 
was  talking  at  her  ease  with  one  whom  she  re 
garded  as  of  her  own  kind  — "  but  he  isn't !  "  I 
protested  to  myself.  "  Langdon  —  none  of  these 
men  —  none  of  these  women,  is  fit  to  associate 
with  her.  They  can't  appreciate  her.  She  be 
longs  to  me  who  can."  And  I  had  a  mad  im 
pulse  then  and  there  to  seize  her  and  bear  her 
away  —  home  —  to  the  home  she  could  make  for 
me  out  of  what  I  would  shower  upon  her. 

At  last  Langdon  rose.  It  irritated  me  to  see 
her  color  under  that  indifferent  fascinating  smile 
of  his.  It  irritated  me  to  note  that  he  held  her 
hand  all  the  time  he  was  saying  good-by,  and 
the  fact  that  he  held  it  as  if  he'd  as  lief  not  be 
holding  it  hardly  lessened  my  longing  to  rush  in 


ANITA  I35 

and  knock  him  down.  What  he  did  was  all  in 
the  way  of  perfect  good  manners,  and  would 
have  jarred  no  one  not  supersensitive,  like  me  — 
and  like  his  wife.  I  saw  that  she,  too,  was 
frowning.  She  looked  beautiful  that  evening,  in 
spite  of  her  too  great  breadth  for  her  height  — 
her  stoutness  was  not  altogether  a  defect  when 
she  was  wearing  evening  dress.  While  she 
seemed  friendly  and  smiling  to  Miss  Ellersly,  I 
saw,  whether  others  saw  it  or  not,  that  she  quiv 
ered  with  apprehension  at  his  mildly  flirtatious 
ways.  He  acted  toward  any  and  every  attractive 
woman  as  if  he  were  free  and  were  regarding 
her  as  a  possibility,  and  didn't  mind  if  she  flat 
tered  herself  that  he  regarded  her  as  a  proba 
bility. 

In  an  aimless  sort  of  way  Miss  Ellersly,  after 
the  Langdons  had  disappeared,  left  the  drawing- 
room  by  the  same  door.  Still  aimlessly  wander 
ing,  she  drifted  into  the  library  by  the  hall  door. 
As  I  rose,  she  lifted  her  eyes,  saw  me,  and  drove 
away  the  frown  of  annoyance  which  came  over 
her  face  like  the  faintest  haze.  In  fact,  it  may 
have  existed  only  in  my  imagination.  She 
opened  a  large,  square  silver  box  on  the 
table,  took  out  a  cigarette,  lighted  it  and  holding 


136  THE  DELUGE 

it,  with  the  smoke  lazily  curling  up  from  it,  be 
tween  the  long1  slender  first  and  second  fingers 
of  her  white  hand,  stood  idly  turning  the  leaves 
of  a  magazine.  I  threw  my  cigar  into  the  fire 
place.  The  slight  sound  as  it  struck  made  her 
jump,  and  I  saw  that,  underneath  her  surface 
of  perfect  calm,  she  was  in  a  nervous  state  full 
as  tense  as  my  own. 

"You  smoke?"  said  I. 

"  Sometimes/*  she  replied.  "  It  is  soothing 
and  distracting.  I  don't  know  how  it  is  with 
others,  but  when  I  smoke,  my  mind  is  quite 
empty." 

"  It's  a  nasty  habit  —  smoking,"  said  I. 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?  "  said  she,  with  the  slight 
est  lift  to  her  tone  and  her  eyebrows. 

"  Especially  for  a  woman,"  I  went  on,  because 
I  could  think  of  nothing  else  to  say,  and  would 
not,  at  any  cost,  let  this  conversation,  so  hard 
to  begin,  die  out. 

"  You  are  one  of  those  men  who  have  one 
code  for  themselves  and  another  for  women,"  she 
replied. 

"  I'm  a  man,"  said  I.  "  All  men  have  the  two 
codes." 

"  Not  all,"  said  she  after  a  pause. 


ANITA 

"All  men  of  decent  ideas,"  said  I  with  em 
phasis. 

"  Really  ?  "  said  she,  in  a  tone  that  irritated 
me  by  suggesting  that  what  I  said  was  both  ab 
surd  and  unimportant. 

"  It  is  the  first  time  I've  ever  seen  a  respectable 
woman  smoke/'  I  went  on,  powerless  to  change 
the  subject,  though  conscious  I  was  getting  tedi 
ous.  "  I've  read  of  such  things,  but  I  didn't 
believe." 

"  That  is  interesting,"  said  she,  her  tone  sug 
gesting  the  reverse. 

"  I've  offended  you  by  saying  frankly  what  I 
think,"  said  I.  "  Of  course,  it's  none  of  my 
business." 

"Oh,  no,"  replied  she  carelessly.  "I'm  not 
in  the  least  offended.  Prejudices  always  inter 
est  me." 

I  saw  Ellersly  and  his  wife  sitting  in  the  draw 
ing-room,  pretending  to  talk  to  each  other.  I 
understood  that  they  were  leaving  me  alone  with 
her  deliberately,  and  I  began  to  suspect  she  was 
in  the  plot.  I  smiled,  and  my  courage  and  self- 
possession  returned  as  summarily  as  they  had 
fled. 

"I'm  glad  of  this  chance  to  get  better  ac- 


I38  THE  DELUGE 

quainted  with  you,"  said  I.  "  I've  wanted  it 
ever  since  I  first  saw  you." 

As  I  put  this  to  her  directly,  she  dropped  her 
eyes  and  murmured  something  she  probably 
wished  me  to  think  vaguely  pleasant. 

"  You  are  the  first  woman  I  ever  knew,"  I 
went  on,  "  with  whom  it  was  hard  for  me  to 
get  on  any  sort  of  terms.  I  suppose  it's  my 
fault.  I  don't  know  this  game  yet.  But  I'll 
learn  it,  if  you'll  be  a  little  patient;  and  when  I 
do,  I  think  I'll  be  able  to  keep  up  my  end." 

She  looked  at  me  —  just  looked.  I  couldn't 
begin  to  guess  what  was  going  on  in  that  grace 
fully-poised  head  of  hers. 

"  Will  you  try  to  be  friends  with  me  ?  "  said  I 
with  directness. 

She  continued  to  look  at  me  in  that  same 
steady,  puzzling  way. 

"  Will  you?  "  I  repeated. 

"  I  have  no  choice,"  said  she  slowly. 

I  flushed.  "What  does  that  mean?"  I  de 
manded. 

She  threw  a  hurried  and,  it  seemed  to  me, 
frightened  glance  toward  the  drawing-room. 
"  I  didn't  intend  to  offend  you,"  she  said  in  a 
low  voice.  "  You  have  been  such  a  good  friend 


ANITA  139 

to  papa  —  I've  no  right  to  feel  anything  but 
friendship  for  you." 

"  I'm  glad  to  hear  you  say  that/'  said  I.  And 
I  was ;  for  those  words  of  hers  were  the  first  ex 
pression  of  appreciation  and  gratitude  I  had  ever 
got  from  any  member  of  that  family  which  I 
was  holding  up  from  ruin.  I  put  out  my  hand, 
and  she  laid  hers  in  it. 

"  There  isn't  anything  I  wouldn't  do  to  earn 
your  friendship,  Miss  Anita,"  I  said,  holding  her 
hand  tightly,  feeling  how  lifeless  it  was,  yet  feel 
ing,  too,  as  if  a  flaming  torch  were  being  borne 
through  me,  were  lighting  a  fire  in  every  vein. 

The  scarlet  poured  into  her  face  and  neck, 
wave  on  wave,  until  I  thought  it  would  never 
cease  to  come.  She  snatched  her  hand  away  and 
from  her  face  streamed  proud  resentment.  God, 
how  I  loved  her  at  that  moment! 

"  Anita !  Mr.  Blacklock ! "  came  from  the 
other  room,  in  her  mother's  voice.  "  Come  in 
here  and  save  us  old  people  from  boring  each 
other  to  sleep." 

She  turned  swiftly  and  went  into  the  other 
room,  I  following.  There  were  a  few  minutes 
of  conversation  —  a  monologue  by  her  mother. 
Then  I  ceased  to  disregard  Ellersly's  less  and  less 


140 


THE  DELUGE 


covert  yawns,  and  rose  to  take  leave.  I  could  not 
look  directly  at  Anita,  but  I  was  seeing  that  her 
eyes  were  fixed  on  me,  as  if  by  some  compulsion, 
some  sinister  compulsion.  I  left  in  high  spirits. 
"  No  matter  why  or  how  she  looks  at  you,"  said 
I  to  myself,  "  All  that  is  necessary  is  to  get 
yourself  noticed.  After  that,  the  rest  is  easy. 
You  must  keep  cool  enough  always  to  remember 
that  under  this  glamour  that  intoxicates  you, 
she's  a  woman,  just  a  woman,  waiting  for  a 


man." 


XIII 


UNTIL  TO-MORROW  " 


On  the  following  Tuesday  afternoon,  toward 
five  o'clock,  I  descended  from  my  apartment  on 
my  way  to  my  brougham.  In  the  entrance  hall 
I  met  Monson  coming  in. 

"  Hello,  you !  "  said  he.  "  Slipping  away  to 
get  married  ?" 

"  No,  I'm  only  making  a  call/'  replied  I,  tak 
ing  alarm  instantly. 

"Oh,  is  that  all?"  said  he  with  a  sly  grin. 
"  It  must  be  a  mighty  serious  matter." 

"  I'm  in  no  hurry/'  said  I.  "  Come  up  with 
me  for  a  few  minutes." 

As  soon  as  we  were  alone  in  my  sitting-room, 
I  demanded:  ".What's  wrong  with  me?  " 

"  Nothing  —  not  a  thing,"  was  his  answer,  in 
a  tone  I  had  a  struggle  with  myself  not  to  resent. 
"  I've  never  seen  any  one  quite  so  grand  —  top 
hat,  latest  style,  long  coat  ditto,  white  buckskin 
waistcoat,  twenty-thousand-dollar  pearl  in  pale 

141 


142  THE  DELUGE 

blue  scarf,  white  spats,  spotless  varnish  boots  just 
from  the  varnishers,  cream-colored  gloves.  You 
•will  make  a  hit!  My  eye,  I'll  bet  she  won't  be 
able  to  resist  you." 

I  began  to  shed  my  plumage.  "  I  thought  this 
was  the  thing  when  you're  calling  on  people  you 
hardly  know." 

"  I  should  say  you'd  have  to  know  'em  uncom 
mon  well  to  give  'em  such  a  treat.  Rather !  " 

"What  shall  I  wear?"  I  asked.  "You  cer 
tainly  told  me  the  other  day  that  this  was  proper." 

"Proper  —  so  it  is  —  too  damn  proper,"  was 
his  answer.  "  That'd  be  all  right  for  a  bride 
groom  or  a  best  man  or  an  usher  —  or  perhaps 
for  a  wedding  guest.  It  wouldn't  do  any  par 
ticular  harm  even  to  call  in  it,  if  the  people  were 
used  to  you.  But  — " 

"I  look  dressed  up?" 

"  Like  a  fashion  plate  —  like  a  tailor  —  like  a 
society  actor." 

"What  shall  I  wear?" 

"  Oh,  just  throw  yourself  together  any  old 
way.  Business  suit's  good  enough." 

"  But  I  barely  know  these  people  —  socially. 
I  never  called  there,"  I  objected. 

"  Then  don't  call,"  he  advised.     "  Send  your 


"UNTIL  TO-MORROW" 

valet  in  a  cab  to  leave  a  card  at  the  door.  Call 
ing  has  gone  clean  out  —  unless  a  man's  got 
something  very  especial  in  mind.  Never  show 
that  you're  eager.  Keep  your  hand  hid" 

"  They'd  know  I  had  something  especial  in 
mind  if  I  called?" 

"  Certainly,  and  if  you'd  gone  in  those  togs, 
they'd  have  assumed  you  had  come  to  —  to  ask 
the  old  man  for  his  daughter  —  or  something 
like  that." 

I  lost  no  time  in  getting  back  into  a  business 
suit 

A  week  passed  and,  just  as  I  was  within  sight 
of  my  limit  of  patience,  Bromwell  Ellersly  ap 
peared  at  my  office.  "  I  can't  put  my  hand  on 
the  necessary  cash,  Mr.  Blacklock  —  at  least,  not 
for  a  few  days.  Can  I  count  on  your  further 
indulgence  ? "  This  in  his  best  exhibit  of 
old-fashioned  courtliness  —  the  "  gentleman  " 
through  and  through,  ignorant  of  anything  use 
ful. 

"  Don't  let  that  matter  worry  you,  Ellersly," 
said  I,  friendly,  for  I  wanted  to  be  on  a  some 
what  less  business-like  basis  with  that  family. 
"  The  market's  steady,  and  will  go  up  before  it 
goes  down." 


144 


THE  DELUGE 


"  Good !  "  said  he.  "  By  the  way,  you  haven't 
kept  your  promise  to  call." 

"  I'm  a  busy  man,"  said  I.  "  You  must  make 
my  excuses  to  your  wife.  But  —  in  the  evenings. 
Couldn't  we  get  up  a  little  theater-party  —  Mrs. 
Ellersly  and  your  daughter  and  you  and  I  — 
Sam,  too,  if  he  cares  to  come?  " 

"Delightful!"  cried  he. 

"  Whichever  one  of  the  next  five  evenings  you 
say,"  I  said.  "  Let  me  know  by  to-morrow 
morning,  will  you  ?  "  And  we  talked  no  more  of 
the  neglected  margins ;  we  understood  each  other. 
When  he  left  he  had  negotiated  a  three  months' 
loan  of  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

They  were  so  surprised  that  they  couldn't  con 
ceal  it,  when  they  were  ushered  into  my  apart 
ment  on  the  Wednesday  evening  they  had  fixed 
upon.  If  my  taste  in  dress  was  somewhat  too 
pronounced,  my  taste  in  my  surroundings  was 
not.  I  suppose  the  same  instinct  that  made  me 
like  the  music  and  the  pictures  and  the  books 
that  were  the  products  of  superior  minds  had 
guided  me  right  in  architecture,  decoration  and 
furniture.  I  know  I  am  one  of  those  who  are 
born  with  the  instinct  for  the  best.  Once  Mon- 


"  UNTIL  TO-MORROW  " 

son  got  in  the  way  of  free  criticism,  he  indulged 
himself  without  stint,  after  the  customary  human 
fashion;  in  fact,  so  free  did  he  become  that  had 
I  not  feared  to  frighten  him  and  so  bring  about 
the  defeat  of  my  purposes,  I  should  have  sat  on 
him  hard  very  soon  after  we  made  our  bargain. 
As  it  was,  I  stood  his  worst  impudences  with 
out  flinching,  and  partly  consoled  myself  with 
the  amusement  I  got  out  of  watching  his  vanity 
lead  him  on  into  thinking  his  knowledge  the 
most  vital  matter  in  the  world  —  just  as  you 
sometimes  see  a  waiter  or  a  clerk  with  the  air  of 
sharing  the  care  of  the  universe  with  the  Al 
mighty. 

But  even  Monson  could  find  nothing  to  criti 
cize  either  in  my  apartment  or  in  my  country 
house.  And,  by  the  way,  he  showed  his  limita 
tions  by  remarking,  after  he  had  inspected :  "  I 
must  say,  Blacklock,  your  architects  and  decora 
tors  have  done  well  by  you."  As  if  a  man's  sur 
roundings  were  not  the  unfailing  index  to  him 
self,  no  matter  how  much  money  he  spends  or 
how  good  architects  and  the  like  he  hires.  As 
if  a  man  could  ever  buy  good  taste. 

I  was  pleased  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  value 
by  what  Ellersly  and  his  wife  looked  and  said. 


I46  THE  DELUGE 

But,  though  I  watched  Miss  Ellersly  closely, 
though  I  tried  to  draw  from  her  some  comment 
on  my  belongings  —  on  my  pictures,  on  my 
superb  tapestries,  on  the  beautiful  carving  of  my 
furniture  —  I  got  nothing  from  her  beyond  that 
first  look  of  surprise  and  pleasure.  Her -face  re 
sumed  its  statuelike  calm,  her  eyes  did  not  wan 
der;  her  lips,  like  a  crimson  bow  painted  upon 
her  clear,  white  skin,  remained  closed.  She  spoke 
only  when  she  was  spoken  to,  and  then  as  briefly 
as  possible.  The  dinner  —  and  a  mighty  good 
dinner  it  was  —  would  have  been  memorable  for 
strain  and  silence  had  not  Mrs.  Ellersly  kept  up 
her  incessant  chatter.  I  can't  recall  a  word  she 
said,  but  I  admired  her  for  being  able  to  talk  at 
all.  I  knew  she  was  in  the  same  state  as  the 
rest  of  us,  yet  she  acted  perfectly  at  her  ease;  and 
not  until  I  thought  it  over  afterward  did  I  realize 
that  she  had  done  all  the  talking,  except  answers 
to  her  occasional  and  cleverly-sprinkled  direct 
questions. 

Ellersly  sat  opposite  me,  and  I  was  irritated, 
and  thrown  into  confusion,  too,  every  time  I 
lifted  my  eyes,  by  the  crushed,  criminal  expres 
sion  of  his  face.  He  ate  and  drank  hugely  — • 
and  extremely  bad  manners  it  would  have  been 


UNTIL  TO-MORROW 


147 


regarded  in  me  had  I  made  as  much  noise  as 
he,  or  lifted  such  quantities  at  a  time  into  my 
mouth.  But  through  his  noisy  gluttony  he  man 
aged  somehow  to  maintain  that  hang-dog  air  — 
like  a  thief  who  has  gone  through  the  house  and, 
on  his  way  out,  has  paused  at  the  pantry,  with 
the  sack  of  plunder  beside  him,  to  gorge  him 
self. 

I  looked  at  Anita  several  times,  each  time  with 
a  carefully- framed  remark  ready;  each  time  I 
found  her  gaze  on  me  —  and  I  could  say  nothing, 
could  only  look  away  in  a  sort  of  panic.  Her 
eyes  were  strangely  variable.  I  have  seen  them 
of  a  gray,  so  pale  that  it  was  almost  silver  —  like 
the  steely  light  of  the  snow-line  at  the  edge  of 
the  horizon;  again,  and  they  were  so  that  even 
ing,  they  shone  with  the  deepest,  softest  blue, 
and  made  one  think,  as  one  looked  at  her,  of  a 
fresh  violet  frozen  in  a  block  of  clear  ice. 

I  sat  behind  her  in  the  box  at  the  theater. 
During  the  first  and  second  intermissions  several 
men  dropped  in  to  speak  to  her  mother  and  her  — 
fellows  who  didn't  ever  come  down  town,  but  I 
could  tell  they  knew  who  I  was  by  the  way  they 
ignored  me.  It  exasperated  me  to  a  pitch  of 
fury,  that  coldly  insolent  air  of  theirs  — •  a  jerky 


I4g  THE  DELUGE 

nod  at  me  without  so  much  as  a  glance,  and 
no  notice  of  me  when  they  were  leaving  my  box 
beyond  a  faint,  supercilious  smile  as  they  passed 
with  eyes  straight  ahead.  I  knew  what  it  meant, 
what  they  were  thinking  —  that  the  "  Bucket- 
Shop  King,"  as  the  newspapers  had  dubbed  me, 
was  trying  to  use  old  Ellersly's  necessities  as  a 
"  jimmy  "  and  "  break  into  society."  When  the 
curtain  went  down  for  the  last  intermission,  two 
young  men  appeared;  I  did  not  get  up  as  I  had 
before,  but  stuck  to  my  seat  —  I  had  reached 
that  point  at  which  courtesy  has  become  cow 
ardice. 

They  craned  and  strained  at  her  round  me  and 
over  me,  presently  gave  up  and  retired,  disguis 
ing  their  anger  as  contempt  for  the  bad  man 
ners  of  a  bounder.  But  that  disturbed  me  not  a 
ripple,  the  more  as  I  was  delighting  in  a  consol 
ing  discovery.  Listening  and  watching  as  she 
talked  with  these  young  men,  whom  she  evidently 
knew  well,  I  noted  that  she  was  distant  and  only 
politely  friendly  in  manner  habitually,  that  while 
the  ice  might  thicken  for  me,  it  was  there  always. 
I  knew  enough  about  women  to  know  that,  if 
the  woman  who  can  thaw  only  for  one  man  is 
the  most  difficult,  she  is  also  the  most  constant. 


"  UNTIL  TO-MORROW  M 

"Once  she  thaws  toward  me  I"  I  said  to  my 
self. 

When  the  young  men  had  gone,  I  leaned  for 
ward  until  my  head  was  close  to  hers,  to  her 
hair  —  fine,  soft,  abundant,  electric  hair.  Like 
the  infatuated  fool  that  I  was,  I  tore  out  all  the 
pigeon-holes  of  my  brain  in  search  of  something 
to  say  to  her,  something  that  would  start  her  to 
thinking  well  of  me.  She  must  have  felt  my 
breath  upon  her  neck,  for  she  moved  away 
slightly,  and  it  seemed  to  me  a  shiver  visibly 
passed  over  that  wonderful  white  skin  of  hers. 

I  drew  back  and  involuntarily  said,  "  Beg  par 
don."  I  glanced  at  her  mother  and  it  was  my 
turn  to  shudder.  I  can't  hope  to  give  an  accurate 
impression  of  that  stony,  mercenary,  mean  face. 
There  are  looks  that  paint  upon  the  human  coun 
tenance  the  whole  of  a  life,  as  a  flash  of  light 
ning  paints  upon  the  blackness  of  the  night  miles 
on  miles  of  landscape.  That  look  of  Mrs.  El- 
lersly's  —  stern  disapproval  at  her  daughter, 
stern  command  that  she  be  more  civil,  that  she 
unbend  —  showed  me  the  old  woman's  soul. 
And  I  say  that  no  old  harpy  presiding  over  a 
dive  is  more  full  of  the  venom  of  the  hideous 
calculations  of  the  market  for  flesh  and  blood 


THE  DELUGE 

than  is  a  woman  whose  life  is  wrapped  up  in 
wealth  and  show. 

"  If  you  wish  it,"  I  said,  on  impulse,  to  Miss 
Ellersly  in  a  low  voice,  "  I  shall  never  try  to 
see  you  again." 

I  could  feel  rather  than  see  the  blood  sud 
denly  beating  in  her  skin,  and  there  was  in  her 
voice  a  nervousness  very  like  fright  as  she  an 
swered  :  "  I'm  sure  mama  and  I  shall  be  glad  to 
see  you  whenever  you  come." 

"You?"  I  persisted. 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  after  a  brief  hesitation. 

"Glad?"  I  persisted. 

She  smiled  —  the  faintest  change  in  the  perfect 
curve  of  her  lips.  "  You  are  very  persistent, 
aren't  you  ?  " 

"  Very,"  I  answered.  "  That  is  why  I  have 
always  got  whatever  I  wanted." 

"  I  admire  it,"  said  she. 

"No,  you  don't,"  I  replied.  "You  think  it 
is  vulgar,  and  you  think  I  am  vulgar  because  I 
have  that  quality  —  that  and  some  others." 

She  did  not  contradict  me. 

"  Well,  I  am  vulgar  —  from  your  standpoint," 
I  went  on.  "  I  have  purposes  and  passions. 
And  I  pursue  them.  For  instance,  you." 


"  UNTIL  TO-MORROW  "  151 

"  I  ?  "  she  said  tranquilly. 

"  You,"  I  repeated.  "  I  made  up  my  mind 
the  first  day  I  saw  you  that  I'd  make  you  like 
me.  And  —  you  will." 

"  That  is  very  flattering,"  said  she.  "  And  a 
little  terrifying.  For  " —  she  faltered,  then  went 
bravely  on  — "  I  suppose  there  isn't  anything 
you'd  stop  at  in  order  to  gain  your  end." 

"  Nothing,"  said  I,  and  I  compelled  her  to 
meet  my  gaze. 

She  drew  a  long  breath,  and  I  thought  there 
was  a  sob  in  it  —  like  a  frightened  child. 

"  But  I  repeat,"  I  went  on,  "  that  if  you  wish 
it,  I  shall  never  try  to  see  you  again.  Do  you 
wish  it?" 

"I  —  don't  —  know,"  she  answered  slowly. 
"I  think  — not." 

As  she  spoke  the  last  word,  she  lifted  her  eyes 
to  mine  with  a  look  of  forced  friendliness  in 
them  that  I'd  rather  not  have  seen  there.  I 
wished  to  be  blind  to  her  defects,  to  the  stains 
and  smutches  with  which  her  surroundings  must 
have  sullied  her.  And  that  friendly  look  seemed 
to  me  an  unmistakable  hypocrisy  in  obedience  to 
her  mother.  However,  it  had  the  effect  of  bring 
ing  her  nearer  to  my  own  earthy  level,  of  put- 


I52  THE  DELUGE 

ting  me  at  ease  with  her;  and  for  the  few  re 
maining  minutes  we  talked  freely,  I  indifferent 
whether  my  manners  and  conversation  were  cor 
rect.  As  I  helped  her  into  their  carriage,  I 
pressed  her  arm  slightly,  and  said  in  a  voice  for 
her  only,  "  Until  to-morrow." 


XIV 

FRESH   AIR  IN   A   GREENHOUSE 

At  five  the  next  day  I  rang  the  Ellerslys'  bell, 
was  taken  through  the  drawing-room  into  that 
same  library.  The  curtains  over  the  double 
doorway  between  the  two  rooms  were  almost 
drawn.  She  presently  entered  from  the  hall.  I 
admired  the  picture  she  made  in  the  doorway  — 
her  big  hat,  her  embroidered  dress  of  white  cloth, 
and  that  small,  sweet,  cold  face  of  hers.  And 
as  I  looked,  I  knew  that  nothing,  nothing  —  no, 
not  even  her  wish,  her  command  —  could  stop  me 
from  trying  to  make  her  my  own.  That  resolve 
must  have  shown  in  my  face  —  it  or  the  passion 
that  inspired  it  —  for  she  paused  and  paled. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  I  asked.     "  Are  you  afraid  of 


me 


She  came  forward  proudly,  a  fine  scorn  in 
her  eyes.  "  No/'  she  said.  "  But  if  you  knew, 
you  might  be  afraid  of  me." 

"  I  am,"  I  confessed.     "  I  am  afraid  of  you 


TH]B  DELUGE 

because  you  inspire  in  me  a  feeling  that  is  be 
yond  my  control.  I've  committed  many  follies 
in  my  life  —  I  have  moods  in  which  it  amuses 
me  to  defy  fate.  But  those  follies  have  always 
been  of  my  own  willing.  You  " —  I  laughed  — 
"  you  are  a  folly  for  me.  But  one  that  com 
pels  me." 

She  smiled  —  not  discouragingly  —  and  seated 
herself  on  a  tiny  sofa  in  the  corner,  a  curiously 
impregnable  intrenchment,  as  I  noted  —  for  my 
impalse  was  to  carry  her  by  storm.  I  was  as 
tonished  at  my  own  audacity;  I  was  wondering 
where  my  fear  of  her  had  gone,  my  awe  of 
her  superior  fineness  and  breeding.  "  Mama  will 
be  down  in  a  few  minutes,"  she  said. 

"  I  didn't  come  to  see  your  mother,"  replied 
I.  "  I  came  to  see  you." 

She  flushed,  then  froze  —  and  I  thought  I  had 
once  more  "  got  upon  "  her  nerves  with  my  rude 
directness.  How  eagerly  sensitive  our  nerves  are 
to  bad  impressions  of  one  we  don't  like,  and  how 
coarsely  insensible  to  bad  impressions  of  one  we 
do  like! 

"  I  see  I've  offended  again,  as  usual,"  said  I. 
"  You  attach  so  much  importance  to  petty  little 
dancing-master  tricks  and  caperings.  You  live 


SHE  PRESENTLY  ENTERED  FROM   THE  HALL      Page   153 


FRESH  AIR  IN  A  GREENHOUSE 


155 


—  always   have  lived  —  in  an   artificial   atmos 
phere.     Real  things  act  on  you  like  fresh  air  on 
a  hothouse  flower." 

"  You  are  —  fresh  air  ?  "  she  inquired,  with 
laughing  sarcasm. 

"  I  am  that/'  retorted  I.     "  And  good  for  you 

—  as  you'll  find  when  you  get  used  to  me." 

I  heard  voices  in  the  next  room  —  her  moth 
er's  and  some  man's.  We  waited  until  it  was 
evident  we  were  not  to  be  disturbed.  As  I  real 
ized  that  fact  and  surmised  its  meaning,  I  looked 
triumphantly  at  her.  She  drew  further  back 
into  her  corner,  and  the  almost  stern  firmness 
of  her  contour  told  me  she  had  set  her  teeth. 

"  I  see  you  are  nerving  yourself,"  said  I  with 
a  laugh.  "  You  are  perfectly  certain  I  am  going 
to  propose  to  you." 

She  flamed  scarlet  and  half-started  up. 

"  Your  mother  —  in  the  next  room  —  expects 
it,  too,"  I  went  on,  laughing  even  more  disagree 
ably.  "  Your  parents  need  money  —  they  have 
decided  to  sell  you,  their  only  large  income-pro 
ducing  asset.  And  I  am  willling  to  buy.  What 
do  you  say  ?  " 

I  was  blocking  her  way  out  of  the  room.  She 
was  standing,  her  breath  coming  fast,  her  eyes 


!56  THE  DELUGE 

blazing.  "  You  are  —  frightful!  "  she  exclaimed 
in  a  low  voice. 

"  Because  I  am  frank,  because  I  am  honest  ? 
Because  I  want  to  put  things  on  a  sound  basis? 
I  suppose,  if  I  came  lying  and  pretending,  and 
let  you  lie  and  pretend,  and  let  your  parents  and 
Sam  lie  and  pretend,  you  would  find  me  —  al 
most  tolerable.  Well,  I'm  not  that  kind.  When 
there's  no  especial  reason  one  way  or  the  other, 
I'm  willing  to  smirk  and  grimace  and  dodder 
and  drivel,  like  the  rest  of  your  friends,  those 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  But  when  there's  busi 
ness  to  be  transacted,  I  am  business-like.  Let's 
not  begin  with  your  thinking  you  are  deceiving 
me,  and  so  hating  me  and  despising  me  and  trying 
to  keep  up  the  deception.  Let's  begin  right." 

She  was  listening;  she  was  no  longer  longing 
to  fly  from  the  room;  she  was  curious.  I  knew 
I  had  scored. 

"  In  any  event/'  I  continued,  "  you  would  have 
married  for  money.  You've  been  brought  up  to 
it,  like  all  these  girls  of  your  set.  You'd  be  mis 
erable  without  luxury.  If  you  had  your  choice 
between  love  without  luxury  and  luxury  with 
out  love,  it'd  be  as  easy  to  foretell  which  you'd 
do  as  to  foretell  how  a  starving  poet  would 


FRESH  AIR  IN  A  GREENHOUSE 

choose  between  a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  volume 
of  poems.  You  may  love  love;  but  you  love 
life  —  your  kind  of  life  —  better!" 

She  lowered  her  head.  "  It  is  true,"  she  said. 
"  It  is  low  and  vile,  but  it  is  true." 

"  Your  parents  need  money  — "  I  began. 

She  stopped  me  with  a  gesture.  "  Don't  blame 
them,"  she  pleaded.  "  I  am  more  guilty  than 
they." 

I  was  proud  of  her  as  she  made  that  confes 
sion.  "  You  have  the  making  of  a  real  woman 
in  you,"  said  I.  "  I  should  have  wanted  you 
even  if  you  hadn't.  But  what  I  now  see  makes 
what  I  thought  a  folly  of  mine  look  more  like 
wisdom." 

"  I  must  warn  you,"  she  said,  and  now  she 
was  looking  directly  at  me,  "  I  shall  never  love 
you." 

"  Never  is  a  long  time/'  replied  I.  "  I'm  old 
enough  to  be  cynical  about  prophecy." 

"  I  shall  never  love  you,"  she  repeated.  "  For 
many  reasons  you  wouldn't  understand.  For 
one  you  will  understand." 

"  I  understand  the  '  many  reasons '  you  say 
are  beyond  me,"  said  I.  "  For,  dear  young  lady, 
under  this  coarse  exterior  I  assure  you  there's 


THE  DELUGE 

hidden  a  rather  sharp  outlook  on  human  nature  — 
and  —  well,  nerves  that  respond  to  the  faintest 
changes  in  you  as  do  mine  can't  be  altogether 
without  sensitiveness.  What's  the  other  reason 
• — the  reason?  That  you  think  you  love  some 
one  else  ?  " 

"  Thank  you  for  saying  it  for  me/'  she  re 
plied. 

You  can't  imagine  how  pleased  I  was  at  hav 
ing  earned  her  gratitude,  even  in  so  little  a 
matter.  "  I  have  thought  of  that,"  said  I.  "  It 
is  of  no  consequence." 

"  But  you  don't  understand,"  she  pleaded  ear 
nestly. 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  understand  perfectly,"  I 
assured  her.  "  And  the  reason  I  am  not  dis 
turbed  is  —  you  are  here,  you  are  not  with  him." 

She  lowered  her  head  so  that  I  had  no  view 
of  her  face. 

"  You  and  he  do  not  marry,"  I  went  on,  "  be 
cause  you  are  both  poor?  " 

"  No,"  she  replied. 

"  Because  he  does  not  care  for  you  ?  " 

"  No  —  not  that,"  she  said. 

"  Because  you  thought  he  hadn't  enough  for 
two?" 


FRESH  AIR  IN  A  GREENHOUSE 

A  long  pause,  then  —  very  faintly :  "  No  — 
not  that." 

"  Then  it  must  be  because  he  hasn't  as  much 
money  as  he'd  like,  and  must  find  a  girl  who'll 
bring  him  —  what  he  most  wants." 

She  was  silent. 

"  That  is,  while  he  loves  you  dearly,  he  loves 
money  more.  And  he's  willing  to  see  you  go  to 
another  man,  be  the  wife  of  another  man,  be — - 
everything  to  another  man."  I  laughed.  "  I'll 
take  my  chances  against  love  of  that  sort." 

"  You  don't  understand,"  she  murmured. 
"  You  don't  realize  —  there  are  many  things  that 
mean  nothing  to  you  and  that  mean  —  oh,  so- 
much  to  people  brought  up  as  we  are." 

"  Nonsense !  "  said  I.  "  What  do  you  mean 
by  '  we '  ?  Nature  has  been  bringing  us  up  for 
a  thousand  thousand  years.  A  few  years  of  silly 
false  training  doesn't  undo  her  work.  If  you 
and  he  had  cared  for  each  other,  you  wouldn't 
be  here,  apologizing  for  his  selfish  vanity." 

"  No  matter  about  him,"  she  cried  impatiently, 
lifting  her  head  haughtily.  "  The  point  is,  I  love 
him  —  and  always  shall.  I  warn  you." 

"  And  I  take  you  at  my  own  risk  ?  " 

Her  look  answered  "  Yes !  " 


THE  DELUGE 

"Well/'— and  I  took  her  hand  — "then,  we 
are  engaged." 

Her  whole  body  grew  tense,  and  her  hand 
chilled  as  it  lay  in  mine.  "  Don't  —  please 
don't,"  I  said  gently.  "  I'm  not  so  bad  as  all 
that.  If  you  will  be  as  generous  with  me  as  I 
shall  be  with  you,  neither  of  us  will  ever  regret 
this." 

There  were  tears  on  her  cheeks  as  I  slowly 
released  her  hand. 

"  I  shall  ask  nothing  of  you  that  you  are  not 
ready  freely  to  give,"  I  said. 

Impulsively  she  stood  and  put  out  her  hand, 
and  the  eyes  she  lifted  to  mine  were  shining 
and  friendly.  I  caught  her  in  my  arms  and 
kissed  her  —  not  once  but  many  times.  And  it 
was  not  until  the  chill  of  her  ice-like  face  had 
cooled  me  that  I  released  her,  drew  back  red 
and  ashamed  and  stammering  apologies.  But 
her  impulse  of  friendliness  had  been  killed;  she 
once  more,  as  I  saw  only  too  plainly,  felt  for  me 
that  sense  of  repulsion,  felt  for  herself  that  sense 
of  self-degradation. 

"  I  can  not  marry  you !  "  she  muttered. 

"  You  can  —  and  will  —  and  must,"  I  cried, 
infuriated  by  her  look. 


FRESH  AIR  IN  A  GREENHOUSE 

There  was  a  long  silence.  I  could  easily  guess 
what  was  being  fought  out  in  her  mind.  At  last 
she  slowly  drew  herself  up.  "I  can  not  refuse," 
she  said,  and  her  eyes  sparkled  with  defiance  that 
had  hate  in  it.  "  You  have  the  power  to  com 
pel  me.  Use  it,  like  the  brute  you  refuse  to  let 
me  forget  that  you  are."  She  looked  so  young, 
so  beautiful,  so  angry  —  and  so  tempting. 

"So  I  shall!"  I  answered.  "Children  have 
to  be  taught  what  is  good  for  them.  Call  in  your 
mother,  and  we'll  tell  her  the  news." 
•  Instead,  she  went  into  the  next  room.  I  fol 
lowed,  saw  Mrs.  Ellersly  seated  at  the  tea-table 
in  the  corner  farthest  from  the  library  where  her 
daughter  and  I  had  been  negotiating.  She  was 
reading  a  letter,  holding  her  lorgnon  up  to  her 
painted  eyes. 

"  Won't  you  give  us  tea,  mother  ?  "  said  Anita, 
on  her  surface  not  a  trace  of  the  cyclone  that 
must  still  have  been  raging  m  her. 

"  Congratulate  me,  Mrs.  Ellersly,"  said  I. 
"  Your  daughter  has  consented  to  marry  me." 

Instead  of  speaking,  Mrs.  Ellersly  began  to 
cry  —  real  tears.  And  for  a  moment  I  thought 
there  was  a  real  heart  inside  of  her  somewhere. 
But  when  she  spoke,  that  delusion  vanished. 


THE  DELUGE 

"  You  must  forgive  me,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  she 
said  in  her  hard,  smooth,  politic  voice.  "  It  is 
the  shock  of  realizing  I'm  about  to  lose  my 
daughter."  And  I  knew  that  her  tears  were  from 
joy  and  relief  —  Anita  had  "  come  up  to  the 
scratch ;"  the  hideous  menace  of  "  genteel  pov 
erty  "  had  been  averted. 

"  Do  give  us  tea,  mama,"  said  Anita.  Her 
colfl,  sarcastic  tone  cut  my  nerves  and  her  moth 
er's  like  a  razor  blade.  I  looked  sharply  at  her, 
and  wondered  whether  I  was  not  making  a  bar 
gain  vastly  different  from  that  my  passion  was 
picturing. 


XV 

SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER 

But  before  there  was  time  for  me  to  get  a 
distinct  impression,  that  ugly  shape  of  cynicism 
had  disappeared. 

"  It  was  a  shadow  I  myself  cast  upon  her,"  I 
assured  myself;  and  once  more  she  seemed  to  me 
like  a  clear,  calm  lake  of  melted  snow  from  the 
mountains.  "  I  can  see  to  the  pure  white  sand  of 
the  very  bottom,"  thought  I.  Mystery  there  was, 
but  only  the  mystery  of  wonder  at  the  apparition 
of  such  beauty  and  purity  in  such  a  world  as 
mine.  True,  from  time  to  time,  there  showed 
at  the  surface  or  vaguely  outlined  in  the  depths, 
forms  strangely  out  of  place  in  those  unsullied 
waters.  But  I  either  refused  to  see  or  refused 
to  trust  my  senses.  I  had  a  fixed  ideal  of  what 
a  woman  should  be;  this  girl  embodied  that  ideal. 

"  If  you'd  only  give  up  your  cigarettes,"  I  re 
member  saying  to  her  when  we  were  a  little  bet 
ter  acquainted,  "  you'd  be  perfect." 
165 


164  THE  DELUGE 

She  made  an  impatient  gesture.  "  Don't !  " 
she  commanded  almost  angrily.  "  You  make  me 
feel  like  a  -hypocrite.  You  tempt  me  to  be  a 
hypocrite.  Why  not  be  content  with  woman  as 
she  is  —  a  human  being?  And  —  how  could  I 
—  any  woman  not  an  idiot  —  be  alive  for  twen 
ty-five  years  without  learning  —  a  thing  or  two  ? 
Why  should  any  man  want  it?" 

"  Because  to  know  is  to  be  spattered  and 
stained/'  said  I.  "  I  get  enough  of  people  who 
know,  down-town.  Up-town  —  I  want  a  change 
of  air.  Of  course,  you  think  you  know  the 
world,  but  you  haven't  the  remotest  conception 
of  what  it's  really  like.  Sometimes  when  I'm 
with  you,  I  begin  to  feel  mean  and  —  and  un 
clean.  And  the  feeling  grows  on  me  until  it's 
all  I  can  do  to  restrain  myself  from  rushing 
away." 

She  looked  at  me  critically. 

"You've  never  had  much  to  do  with  women, 
have  you  ?  "  she  finally  said  slowly  in  a  musing 
tone. 

"  I  wish  that  were  true  —  almost,"  replied  I, 
on  my  mettle  as  a  man,  and  resisting  not  without 
effort  the  impulse  to  make  some  vague  "  con 
fessions  "  —  boastings  disguised  as  penitential 


SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER 

admissions  —  after  the  customary  masculine 
fashion. 

She  smiled  —  and  one  of  those  disquieting 
shapes  seemed  to  me  to  be  floating  lazily  and  re- 
pellently  downward,  out  of  sight.  "  A  man  and 
a  woman  can  be  a  great  deal  to  each  other,  I  be 
lieve,"  said  she;  "can  be  —  married,  and  all 
that  —  and  remain  as  strange  to  each  other  as 
if  they  had  never  met  —  more  hopelessly 
strangers." 

"  There's  always  a  sort  of  mystery,"  I  con 
ceded.  "  I  suppose  that's  one  of  the  things  that 
keep  married  people  interested." 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders  —  she  was  in 
evening  dress,  I  recall,  and  there  was  on  her 
white  skin  that  intense,  transparent,  bluish  tinge 
one  sees  on  the  new  snow  when  the  sun  comes 
out. 

"  Mystery !  "  she  said  impatiently.  "  There's 
no  mystery  except  what  we  ourselves  make.  It's 
useless  —  perfectly  useless,"  she  went  on  absently. 
"  You're  the  sort  of  man  who,  if  a  woman  cared 
for  him,  or  even  showed  friendship  for  him  by 
being  frank  and  human  and  natural  with  him, 
he'd  punish  her  for  it  by  —  by  despising  her." 

I  smiled,  much  as  one  smiles  at  the  efforts  of 


!66  THE  DELUGE 

a  precocious  child  to  prove  that  it  is  a  Methuselah 
in  experience. 

"If  you  weren't  like  an  angel  in  comparison 
with  the  others  I've  known,"  said  I,  "  do  you 
suppose  I  could  care  for  you  as  I  do?  " 

I  saw  my  remark  irritated  her,  and  I  fancied 
it  was  her  vanity  that  was  offended  by  my  dis 
belief  in  her  knowledge  of  life.  I  hadn't  a  sus 
picion  that  I  had  hurt  and  alienated  her  by  slam 
ming  in  her  very  face  the  door  of  friendship 
and  frankness  her  honesty  was  forcing  her  to 
try  to  open  for  me. 

In  my  stupidity  of  imagining  her  not  human 
like  the  other  women  and  the  men  I  had  known, 
but  a  creature  apart  and  in  a  class  apart,  I  stood 
day  after  day  gaping  at  that  very  door,  and 
wondering  how  I  could  open  it,  how  penetrate 
even  to  the  courtyard  of  that  vestal  citadel. 
So  long  as  my  old-fashioned  belief  that  good 
women  were  more  than  human  and  bad  women 
less  than  human  had  influenced  me  only  to  a 
sharper  lookout  in  dealing  with  the  one  species 
of  woman  I  then  came  in  contact  with,  no  harm 
to  me  resulted,  but  on  the  contrary  good  —  who 
ever  got  into  trouble  through  walking  the  world 
with  sword  and  sword  arm  free?  But  when, 


SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER 

under  the  spell  of  Anita  Ellersly,  I  dragged  the 
"  superhuman  goodness "  part  of  my  theory 
down  out  of  the  clouds  and  made  it  my  guardian 
and  guide  —  really,  it's  a  miracle  that  I  escaped 
from  the  pit  into  which  that  lunacy  pitched  me 
headlong.  I  was  not  content  with  idealizing  only 
her;  I  went  on  to  seeing  good,  and  only  good,  in 
everybody!  The  millennium  was  at  hand;  all 
Wall  Street  was  my  friend;  whatever  I  wanted 
would  happen.  And  when  Roebuck,  with  an  air 
like  a  benediction  from  a  bishop  backed  by  a 
cathedral  organ  and  full  choir,  gave  me  the  tip 
to  buy  coal  stocks,  I  canonized  him  on  the  spot. 
Never  did  a  Jersey  "  jay "  in  Sunday  clothes 
and  tallowed  boots  respond  to  a  bunco  steerer's 
greeting  with  a  gladder  smile  than  mine  to  that 
-pious  old  past-master  of  craft. 

I  will  say,  in  justice  to  myself,  though  it  is 
also  in  excuse,  that  if  I  had  known  him  intimately 
a  few  years  earlier,  I  should  have  found  it  all 
but  impossible  to  fool  myself.  For  he  had  not 
long  been  in  a  position  where  he  could  keep 
wholly  detached  from  the  crimes  committed  for 
his  benefit  and  by  his  order,  and  where  he  could 
disclaim  responsibility  and  even  knowledge.  The 
great  lawyers  of  the  country  have  been  most  in- 


1 68  THE  DELUGE 

genious  in  developing  corporate  law  in  the  di 
rection  of  making  the  corporation  a  complete  and 
secure  shield  between  the  beneficiary  of  a  crime 
and  its  consequences ;  but  before  a  great  financier 
can  use  this  shield  perfectly,  he  must  build  up  a 
system  —  he  must  find  lieutenants  with  the  neces 
sary  coolness,  courage  and  cunning;  he  must 
teach  them  to  understand  his  hints;  he  must 
educate  them,  not  to  point  out  to  him  the  disa 
greeable  things  involved  in  his  orders,  but  to  exe 
cute  unquestioningly,  to  efface  completely  the  trail 
between  him  and  them,  whether  or  not  they  suc 
ceed  in  covering  the  roundabout  and  faint  trail 
between  themselves  and  the  tools  that  nominally 
commit  the  crimes. 

As  nearly  as  I  can  get  at  it,  when  Roebuck 
was  luring  me  into  National  Coal  he  had  not  for 
nine  years  been  open  to  attack,  but  had  so  far 
hedged  himself  in  that,  had  his  closest  lieutenants 
been  trapped  and  frightened  into  "  squealing,"  he 
would  not  have  been  involved;  without  fear  of 
exposure  and  with  a  clear  conscience  he  could  — 
and  would !  —  have  joined  in  the  denunciation  of 
the  man  who  had  been  caught,  and  could  —  and 
would !  —  have  helped  send  him  to  the  peniten 
tiary  or  to  the  scaffold.  With  the  security  of  an 


SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER    rfg 

honest  man  and  the  serenity  of  a  Christian  he 
planned  his  colossal  thefts  and  reaped  their  bene 
fits  ;  and  whenever  he  was  accused,  he  could  have 
explained  everything,  could  have  got  his  accuser's 
sympathy  and  admiration.  I  say,  could  have  ex 
plained;  but  he  would  not.  Early  in  his  career, 
he  had  learned  the  first  principle  of  successful 
crime  —  silence.  No  matter  what  the  provoca 
tion  or  the  seeming  advantage,  he  uttered  only 
a  few  generous  general  phrases,  such  as  "  those 
misguided  men/'  or  "  the  Master  teaches  us  to 
bear  with  meekness  the  calumnies  of  the  wicked," 
or  "  let  him  that  is  without  sin  cast  the  first 
stone."  As  to  the  crime  itself  —  silence,  and  the 
dividends. 

A  great  man,  Roebuck!  I  doff  my  hat  to 
him.  Of  all  the  dealers  in  stolen  goods  under 
police  protection,  who  so  shrewd  as  he? 

Wilmot  was  the  instrument  he  employed  to 
put  the  coal  industry  into  condition  for  "  reor 
ganization."  He  bought  control  of  one  of  the 
coal  railroads  and  made  Wilmot  president  of  it. 
Wilmot,  taught  by  twenty  years  of  his  service, 
knew  what  was  expected  of  him,  and  proceeded 
to  do  it.  He  put  in  a  "  loyal "  general  freight 
agent  who  also  needed  no  instructions,  but  busied 


THE  DELUGE 

himself  at  destroying  his  own  and  all  the  other 
coal  roads  by  a  system  of  secret  rebates  and  rate 
cuttings.  As  the  other  roads,  one  by  one,  de 
scended  toward  bankruptcy,  Roebuck  bought  the 
comparatively  small  blocks  of  stock  necessary  to 
give  him  control  of  them.  .When  he  had  power 
over  enough  of  them  to  establish  a  partial  mo 
nopoly  of  transportation  in  and  out  of  the  coal 
districts,  he  was  ready  for  his  lieutenant  to  at 
tack  the  mining  properties.  Probably  his  orders 
to  Wilmot  were  nothing  more  definite  or  less 
innocent  than :  "  Wilmot,  my  boy,  don't  you  think 
you  and  I  and  some  others  of  our  friends  ought 
to  buy  some  of  those  mines,  if  they  come  on  the 
market  at  a  fair  price?  Let  me  know  when  you 
hear  of  any  attractive  investments  of  that  sort." 

That  would  have  been  quite  enough  to  "  tip  it 
off  "  to  Wilmot  that  the  time  had  come  for  reach 
ing  out  from  control  of  railway  to  control  of 
mine.  He  lost  no  time;  he  easily  forced  one  min 
ing  property  after  another  into  a  position  where 
its  owners  were  glad  —  were  eager  —  to  sell  all 
or  part  of  the  wreck  of  it  "  at  a  fair  price  "  to 
him  and  Roebuck  and  "  our  friends."  It  was  as 
the  result  of  one  of  these  moves  that  the  great 
Manasquale  mines  were  so  hemmed  in  by  ruinous 


SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER 

freight  rates,  by  strike  troubles,  by  floods  from 
broken  machinery  and  mysteriously  leaky  dams, 
that  I  was  able  to  buy  them  "  at  a  fair  price  " — 
that  is,  at  less  than  one-fifth  their  value.  But  at 
the  time  — •  and  for  a  long  time  afterward  —  I 
did  not  know,  on  my  honor  did  not  suspect,  what 
was  the  cause,  the  sole  cause,  of  the  change  of 
the  coal  region  from  a  place  of  peaceful  industry, 
content  with  fair  profits,  to  an  industrial  chaos 
with  ruin  impending. 

Once  the  railways  and  mining  companies  were 
all  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  Roebuck  and  his 
"  friends  "  were  ready  to  buy,  here  control  for 
purposes  of  speculation,  there  ownership  for  pur 
poses  of  permanent  investment  This  is  what  is 
known  as  the  reorganizing  stage.  The  processes 
of  high  finance  are  very  simple  —  first,  buy 
the  comparatively  small  holdings  necessary  to 
create  confusion  and  disaster ;  second,  create  con 
fusion  and  disaster,  buying  up  more  and  more 
wreckage ;  third,  reorganize ;  fourth,  offer  the  new 
stocks  and  bonds  to  the  public  with  a  mighty 
blare  of  trumpets  which  produces  a  boom  mar 
ket;  fifth,  unload  on  the  public,  pass  dividends, 
issue  unfavorable  statements,  depress  prices,  buy 
back  cheap  what  you  have  sold  dear.  Repeat  ad 


THE  DELUGE 

infinitum,  for  the  law  is  for  the  laughter  of  the 
strong,  and  the  public  is  an  eager  ass.  To  keep 
up  the  fiction  of  "  respectability,"  the  inside  ring 
divides  into  two  parties  for  its  campaigns  —  one 
party  to  break  down,  the  other  to  build  up.  One 
takes  the  profits  from  destruction  and  departs, 
perhaps  to  construct  elsewhere;  the  other  takes 
the  profits  from  construction  and  departs,  per 
haps  to  destroy  elsewhere.  As  their  collusion  is 
merely  tacit,  no  conscience  need  twitch.  I  must 
add  that,  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing,  I  did 
not  realize  the  existence  of  this  conspiracy.  I 
knew,  of  course,  that  many  lawless  and  savage 
things  were  done,  that  there  were  rascals  among 
the  high  financiers,  and  that  almost  all  financiers 
now  and  then  did  things  that  were  more  or  less 
rascally;  but  I  did  not  know,  did  not  suspect, 
that  high  finance  was  through  and  through  brig 
andage,  and  that  the  high  financier,  by  long  and 
unmolested  practice  of  brigandage,  had  come  to 
look  on  it  as  legitimate,  lawful  business,  and 
on  laws  forbidding  or  hampering  it  as  outrageous, 
socialistic,  anarchistic,  "attacks  upon  the  social 
order!" 

I  was  sufficiently  infected  with  the  spirit  of 
the  financier,  I  frankly  confess,  to  look  on  the 


SOME  STRA-NGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER 

public  as  a  sort  of  cow  to  milk  and  send  out  to 
grass  that  it  might  get  itself  ready  to  be  driven  in 
and  milked  again.  Does  not  the  cow  produce 
milk  not  for  her  own  use  but  for  the  use  of  him 
wHo  looks  after  her,  provides  her  with  pasturage 
and  shelter  and  saves  her  from  the  calamities  in 
which  her  lack  of  foresight  and  of  other  intelli 
gence  would  involve  her,  were  she  not  looked 
after  ?  And  is  not  the  fact  that  the  public  —  beg 
pardon,  the  cow  —  meekly  and  even  cheerfully 
submits  to  the  milking  proof  that  God  intended 
her  to  be  the  servant  of  the  Roebucks  —  beg  par 
don  again,  of  man? 

Plausible,  isn't  it? 

Roebuck  had  given  me  the  impression  that  it 
would  be  six  months,  at  least,  before  what  I  was 
in  those  fatuous  days  thinking  of  as  "our  "  plan 
for  "  putting  the  coal  industry  on  a  sound  busi 
ness  basis  "  would  be  ready  for  the  public.  So, 
when  he  sent  for  me  shortly  after  I  became  en 
gaged  to  Miss  Ellersly,  and  said :  "  Melville  will 
publish  the  plan  on  the  first  of  next  month  and 
will  open  the  subscription  books  on  the  third  —  a 
Thursday,"  I  was  taken  by  surprise  and  was  any 
thing  but  pleased.  His  words  meant  that,  if  I 
wished  to  make  a  great  fortune,  now  was  the 


DELUGE 

time  to  buy  coal  stocks,  and  buy  heavily  —  for 
on  the  very  day  of  the  publication  of  the  plan 
every  coal  stock  would  surely  soar.  Buy  I  must ; 
not  to  buy  was  to  throw  away  a  fortune.  Yet 
how  could  I  buy  when  I  was  gambling  in  Textile 
tip  to  my  limit  of  safety,  if  not  beyond? 

I  did  not  dare  confess  to  Roebuck  what  I  was 
doing  in  Textile.  He  was  bitterly  opposed  to 
stock  gambling,  denouncing  it  as  both  immoral 
and  unbusinesslike.  No  gambling  for  him! 
When  his  business  sagacity  and  foresight(  ?) 
informed  him  a  certain  stock  was  going  to  be 
worth  a  great  deal  more  than  it  was  then  quoted 
at,  he  would  buy  outright  in  large  quantities; 
when  that  same  sagacity  and  foresight  of  the 
fellow  who  has  himself  marked  the  cards  warned 
him  that  a  stock  was  about  to  fall,  he  sold  out 
right.  But  gamble  —  never!  And  I  felt  that, 
if  he  should  learn  that  I  had  staked  a  large  part 
of  my  entire  fortune  on  a  single  gambling  opera 
tion,  he  would  straightway  cut  me  off  from  his 
confidence,  would  look  on  me  as  too  deeply  tainted 
by  my  long  career  as  a  "  bucket-shop  "  man  to  be 
worthy  of  full  rank  and  power  as  a  financier. 
Financiers  do  not  gamble.  Their  only  vice  is 
grand  larceny. 


SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER 

All  this  was  flashing  through  my  mind  while 
I  was  thanking  him. 

"  I  am  glad  to  have  such  a  long  forewarn 
ing,"  I  was  saying.  "  Can  I  be  of  use  to  you  ? 
.You  know  my  machinery  is  perfect  —  I  can  buy 
anything  and  in  any  quantity  without  starting 
rumors  and  drawing  the  crowd." 

"  No  thank  you,  Matthew,"  was  his  answer, 
"  I  have  all  of  those  stocks  I  wish  —  at  pres 
ent." 

Whether  it  is  peculiar  to  me,  I  don't  know  — 
probably  not  —  but  my  memory  is  so  constituted 
that  it  takes  an  indelible  and  complete  impression 
of  whatever  is  sent  to  it  by  my  eyes  and  ears ;  and 
just  as  by  looking  closely  you  can  find  in  a  pho 
tographic  plate  a  hundred  details  that  escape  your 
glance,  so  on  those  memory  plates  of  mine  I 
often  find  long  afterward  many  and  many  a  de 
tail  that  escaped  me  when  my  eyes  and  ears  were 
taking  the  impression.  On  my  memory  plate  of 
that  moment  in  my  interview  with  Roebuck,  I 
find  details  so  significant  that  my  failing  to  note 
them  at  the  time  shows  how  unfit  I  then  was  to 
guard  my  interests.  For  instance,  I  find  that 
just  before  he  spoke  those  words  declining  my 
assistance  and  implying  that  he  had  already  in- 


I76  THE  DELUGE 

creased  his  holdings,  he  opened  and  closed  his 
hands  several  times,  finally  closed  and  clinched 
them  —  a  sure  sign  of  energetic  nervous  action, 
and  in  that  particular  instance  a  sign  of  decep« 
tion,  because  there  was  no  energy  in  his  remark 
and  no  reason  for  energy.  I  am  not  supersti 
tious,  but  I  believe  in  palmistry  to  a  certain  ex 
tent.  Even  more  than  the  face  are  the  hands  a 
sensitive  recorder  of  what  is  passing  in  the  mind. 
But  I  was  then  too  intent  upon  my  dilemma 
carefully  to  study  a  man  who  had  already  lulled 
me  into  absolute  confidence  in  him.  I  left  him 
as  soon  as  he  would  let  me  go.  His  last  words 
were,  "  No  gambling,  Matthew !  No  abuse  of 
the  opportunity  God  is  giving  us.  Be  content 
with  the  just  profits  from  investment.  I  have 
seen  gamblers  come  and  go,  many  of  them  able 
men — -very  able  men.  But  they  have  melted 
away,  and  where  are  they?  And  I  have  re 
mained  and  have  increased,  blessed  be  God  who 
has  saved  me  from  the  temptations  to  try  to  reap 
where  I  had  not  sown!  I  feel  that  I  can  trust 
you.  You  began  as  a  speculator,  but  success 
has  steadied  you,  and  you  have  put  yourself  on 
the  firm  ground  where  we  see  the  solid  men  into 
whose  hands  God  has  given  the  development  of 


SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER 

the  abounding  resources  of  this  beloved  country 
of  ours." 

Do  you  wonder  that  I  went  away  with  a  heart 
full  of  shame  for  the  gambling  projects  my  head 
was  planning  upon  the  information  that  good 
man  had  given  me? 

I  shut  myself  in  my  private  office  for  several 
hours  of  hard  thinking  —  as  I  can  now  see,  the 
first  real  attention  I  had  given  my  business  in 
two  months.  It  soon  became  clear  enough  that 
my  Textile  plunge  was  a  folly;  but  it  was  too 
late  to  retrace.  The  only  question  was,  could 
and  should  I  assume  additional  burdens?  I 
looked  at  the  National  Coal  problem  from  every 
standpoint  —  so  I  thought.  And  I  could  see  no 
possible  risk.  Did  not  Roebuck's  statement 
make  it  certain  as  sunrise  that,  as  soon  as  the 
reorganization  was  announced,  all  coal  stocks 
would  rise?  Yes,  I  should  be  risking  nothing; 
I  could  with  absolute  safety  stake  my  credit;  to 
make  contracts  to  buy  coal  stocks  at  present 
prices  for  future  delivery  was  no  more  of  a  gam 
ble  than  depositing  cash  in  the  United  States 
Treasury. 

:t  You've  gone  back  to  gambling  lately,  Matt," 
said  I  to  myself.  "  You've  been  on  a  bender, 


!-g  THE  DELUGE 

with  your  head  afire.  You  must  get  out  of  this 
Textile  business  as  soon  as  possible.  But  it's  good 
sound  sense  to  plunge  on  the  coal  stocks.  In 
fact,  your  profits  there  would  save  you  if  by 
some  mischance  Textile  should  rise  instead  of 
fall.  Acting  on  Roebuck's  tip  isn't  gambling, 
it's  insurance." 

I  emerged  to  issue  orders  that  soon  threw  into 
the  National  Coal  venture  all  I  had  not  staked 
on  a  falling  market  for  Textiles.  I  was  not 
content  —  as  the  pious  gambling-hater,  Roebuck, 
had  begged  me  to  be- — with  buying  only  what 
stock  I  could  pay  for;  I  went  plunging  on,  con 
tracting  for  many  times  the  amount  I  could  have 
bought  outright. 

The  next  time  I  saw  Langdon  I  was  full  of 
enthusiasm  for  Roebuck.  I  can  see  his  smile 
as  he  listened. 

"  I  had  no  idea  you  were  an  expert  on  the 
trumpets  of  praise,  Blacklock,"  said  he  finally. 
"  A  very  showy  accomplishment,"  he  added, 
"but  rather  dangerous,  don't  you  think?  The 
player  may  become  enchanted  by  his  own  music." 

"  I  try  to  look  on  the  bright  side  of  things/* 
said  I,  "  tven  of  human  nature." 

"  Since  when  ?  "  drawled  he. 


SOME  STRANGE  LAPSES  OF  A  LOVER 

I  laughed  —  a  good,  hearty  laugh,  for  this 
shy  reference  to  my  affair  of  the  heart  tickled 
me.  I  enjoyed  to  the  full  only  in  long  retro 
spect  the  look  he  gave  me. 

"As  soon  as  a  man  falls  in  love,"  said  he, 
"  trustees  should  be  appointed  to  take  charge  of 
his  estate." 

"  You're  wrong  there,  old  man,"  I  replied. 
"  I've  never  worked  harder  or  with  a  clearer 
head  than  since  I  learned  that  there  are "  —  I 
hesitated,  and  ended  lamely  —  "other  things  in 
life." 

Langdon's  handsome  face  suddenly  darkened, 
and  I  thought  I  saw  in  his  eyes  a  look  of  savage 
pain.  "  I  envy  you,"  said  he  with  an  effort  at  his 
wonted  lightness  and  cynicism.  But  that  look 
touched  my  heart;  I  talked  no  more  of  my  own 
happiness.  To  do  so,  I  felt  would  be  like  bring 
ing  laughter  into  the  house  of  grief. 


XVI 

TRAPPED   AND   TRIMMED 

There  are  two  kinds  of  dangerous  temptations 
•—those  that  tempt  us,  and  those  that  don't. 
Those  that  don't,  give  us  a  false  notion  of  our 
resisting  power,  and  so  make  us  easy  victims  to 
the  others.  I  thought  I  knew  myself  pretty 
thoroughly,  and  I  believed  there  was  nothing 
that  could  tempt  me  to  neglect  my  business. 
.With  this  delusion  of  my  strength  firmly  in  mind, 
when  Anita  became  a  temptation  to  neglect  busi 
ness,  I  said  to  myself :  "  To  go  up-town  during 
business  hours  for  long  lunches,  to  spend  the 
mornings  selecting  flowers  and  presents  for  her  — 
these  things  look  like  neglect  of  business,  and 
would  be  so  in  some  men.  But  /  couldn't  neglect 
business.  I  do  them  because  my  affairs  are  so 
well  ordered  that  a  few  hours  of  absence  now 
and  then  make  no  difference  —  probably  send  me 
back  fresher  and  clearer." 

.When  I  left  the  office  at  half-past  twelve  on 
180 


TRAPPED  AND  TRIMMED 

that  fateful  Wednesday  in  June,  my  business  was 
never  in  better  shape.  Textile  Common  had 
dropped  a  point  and  a  quarter  in  two  days  — 
evidently  it  was  at  last  on  its  way  slowly  down 
toward  where  I  could  free  myself  and  take 
profits.  As  for  the  Coal  enterprise  nothing 
could  possibly  happen  to  disturb  it;  I  was  all 
ready  for  the  first  of  July  announcement  and 
boom.  Never  did  I  have  a  lighter  heart  than 
when  I  joined  Anita  and  her  friends  at  Sherry's. 
It  seemed  to  me  her  friendliness  was  less  per 
functory,  less  a  matter  of  appearances.  And 
the  sun  was  bright,  the  air  delicious,  my  health 
perfect.  It  took  all  the  strength  of  all  the  straps 
Monson  had  put  on  my  natural  spirits  to  keep  me 
from  being  exuberant. 

I  had  fully  intended  to  be  back  at  my  office 
half  an  hour  before  the  Exchange  closed  —  this 
in  addition  to  the  obvious  precaution  of  leaving 
orders  that  they  were  to  telephone  me  if  anything 
should  occur  about  which  they  had  the  least 
doubt.  But  so  comfortable  did  my  vanity  make 
me  that  I  forgot  to  look  at  my  watch  until  a 
quarter  to  three.  I  had  a  momentary  qualm; 
then,  reassured,  I  asked  Anita  to  take  a  walk  with 
me.  Before  we  set  out  I  telephoned  my  right- 


THE  DELUGE 

hand  man  and  partner,  Ball.  As  I  had  thought, 
everything  was  quiet;  the  Exchange  was  closing 
with  Textile  sluggish  and  down  a  quarter. 
Anita  and  I  took  a  car  to  the  park. 

As  we  strolled  about  there,  it  seemed  to  me  I 
was  making  more  headway  with  her  than  in  all 
the  times  I  had  seen  her  since  we  became  en 
gaged.  At  each  meeting  I  had  had  to  begin  at 
the  beginning  once  more,  almost  as  if  we  had 
never  met;  for  I  found  that  she  had  in  the 
meanwhile  taken  on  all,  or  almost  all,  her  original 
reserve.  It  was  as  if  she  forgot  me  the  instant 
I  left  her  —  not  very  flattering,  that ! 

"  You  accuse  me  of  refusing  to  get  acquainted 
with  you,"  said  I,  "  of  refusing  to  see  that  you're 
a  different  person  from  what  I  imagine.  But 
how  about  you  ?  Why  do  you  still  stick  to  your 
first  notion  of  me?  Whatever  I  am  or  am  not, 
I'm  not  the  person  you  condemned  on  sight." 

"  You  have  changed,"  she  conceded.  "  The 
way  you  dress  —  and  sometimes  the  way  you 
act.  Or,  is  it  because  I'm  getting  used  to  you  ?  " 

"  No  —  it's  — "  I  began,  but  stopped  there. 
Some  day  I  would  confess  about  Monson,  but 
not  yet.  Also,  I  hoped  the  change  wasn't  alto 
gether  due  to  Monson  and  the  dancing-master 


TRAPPED  AND  TRIMMED 

and  my  imitation  of  the  tricks  of  speech  and 
manner  of  the  people  in  her  set. 

She  did  not  notice  my  abrupt  halt.  Indeed, 
I  often  caught  her  at  not  listening  to  me.  I  saw 
that  she  wasn't  listening  now. 

"  You  didn't  hear  what  I  said,"  I  accused 
somewhat  sharply,  for  I  was  irritated  —  as  who 
would  not  have  been  ? 

She  started,  gave  me  that  hurried,  apologetic 
look  that  was  bitterer  to  me  than  the  most  sav 
age  insult  would  have  been. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  she  said.  "  We  were 
talking  of  —  of  changes,  weren't  we?" 

"  We  were  talking  of  me,"  I  answered.  "  Of 
the  subject  that  interests  you  not  at  all." 

She  looked  at  me  in  a  forlorn  sort  of  way  that 
softened  my  irritation  with  sympathy.  "  I've 
told  you  how  it  is  with  me,"  she  said.  "  I  do 
my  best  to  please  you.  I  — " 

"  Damn  your  best !  "  I  cried.  "  Don't  try  to 
please  me.  Be  yourself.  I'm  no  slave-driver. 
I  don't  have  to  be  conciliated.  Can't  you  ever 
see  that  I'm  not  your  tyrant?  Do  I  treat  you  as 
any  other  man  would  feel  he  had  the  right  to 
treat  the  girl  who  had  engaged  herself  to  him? 
Do  I  ever  thrust  my  feelings  or  wishes  —  or  — 


1 84  THE  DELUGE 

longings  on  you?  And  do  you  think  repression 
easy  for  a  man  of  my  temperament  ?  " 

"You  have  been  very  good,"  she  said  humbly. 

"  Don't  you  ever  say  that  to  me  again,"  I  half 
commanded,  half  pleaded.  "  I  won't  have  you 
always  putting  me  in  the  position  of  a  kind  and 
indulgent  master." 

She  halted  and  faced  me. 

"  Why  do  you  want  me,  anyhow  ?  "  she  cried. 
Then  she  noticed  several  loungers  on  a  bench 
staring  at  us  and  grinning ;  she  flushed  and  walk 
ed  on. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  I.  "  Because  I'm  a  fool, 
probably.  My  common  sense  tells  me  I  can't 
hope  to  break  through  that  shell  of  self-com 
placence  you've  been  cased  in  by  your  family  and 
your  associates.  Sometimes  I  think  I'm  mis 
taken  in  you,  think  there  isn't  any  real,  human 
blood  left  in  your  veins,  that  you're  like  the  rest 
of  them  —  a  human  body  whose  heart  and  mind 
have  been  taken  out  and  a  machine  substituted  — 
a  machine  that  can  say  and  do  only  a  narrow 
little  range  of  conventional  things  —  like  one  of 
those  French  dolls." 

"  You  mustn't  blame  me  for  that,"  she  said 
gently.  "  I  realize  it,  too  —  and  I'm  ashamed 


TRAPPED  AND  TRIMMED  ^5 

of  it.  But  —  if  you  could  know  how  I've  been 
educated.  They've  treated  me  as  the  Flathead 
Indian  women  treat  their  babies  —  keep  their 
skulls  in  a  press  —  isn't  that  it?  —  until  their 
heads  and  brains  grow  of  the  Flathead  pattern. 
Only,  somehow,  in  my  case  —  the  process  wasn't 
quite  complete.  And  so,  instead  of  being  con 
tented  like  the  other  Flathead  girls,  I'm  —  almost 
a  rebel,  at  times.  I'm  neither  the  one  thing  nor 
the  other  —  not  natural  and  not  Flathead,  not 
enough  natural  to  grow  away  from  Flathead,  not 
enough  Flathead  to  get  rid  of  the  natural." 

"  I  take  back  what  I  said  about  not  knowing 
*why  I  —  I  want  you,  Anita,"  I  said.  "  I  do 
know  why  —  and  — well,  as  I  told  you  before, 
you'll  never  regret  marrying  me." 

"If  you  won't  misunderstand  me/'  she  an 
swered,  "  I'll  confess  to  you  my  instinct  has  been 
telling  me  that,  too.  I'm  not  so  bad  as  you  must 
think.  I  did  bargain  to  sell  myself,  but  I'd  have 
thrown  up  the  bargain  if  you  had  been  as  —  as 
you  seemed  at  first."  For  some  reason  —  per 
haps  it  was  her  dress,  or  hat  —  she  was  looking 
particularly  girlish  that  day,  and  her  skin  was 
even  more  transparent  than  usual.  "  You're  dif 
ferent  from  the  men  I've  been  used  to  all  my 


THE  DELUGE 

life,"  she  went  on,  and  —  smiling  in  a  friendly 
way  — "  you  often  give  me  a  terrifying  sense  of 
your  being  a  —  a  wild  man  on  his  good  behavior. 
But  I've  come  to  feel  that  you're  generous  and 
unselfish  and  that  you'll  be  kind  to  me  —  won't 
you?  And  I  must  make  a  life  for  myself  —  I 
must  —  I  must!  Oh,  I  can't  explain  to  you, 
but — "  She  turned  her  little  head  toward  me, 
and  I  was  looking  into  those  eyes  that  the  flowers 
were  like. 

I  thought  she  meant  her  home  life.  "  You 
needn't  tell  me,"  I  said,  and  I'll  have  to  confess 
my  voice  was  anything  but  steady.  "  And,  I  re 
peat,  you'll  never  regret." 

She  evidently  feared  that  she  had  said  too 
much,  for  she  lapsed  into  silence,  and  when  I 
tried  to  resume  the  subject  of  ourselves,  she 
answered  me  with  painful  constraint.  I  re 
spected  her  nervousness  and  soon  began  to  talk 
of  things  not  so  personal  to  us.  Again,  my  mis 
take  of  treating  her  as  if  she  were  marked  "  Fra 
gile.  Handle  with  care."  I  know  now  that  she, 
like  all  women,  had  the  plain,  tough,  durable 
human  fibre  under  that  exterior  of  delicacy  and 
fragility,  and  that  my  overconsideration  caused 
her  to  exaggerate  to  herself  her  own  preposterous 


TRAPPED  AND  TRIMMED  jg^ 

notions  of  her  superior  fineness.  We  walked  for 
an  hour,  talking  with  less  constraint  and  more 
friendliness  than  ever  before,  and  when  I  left  her 
I,  for  the  first  time,  felt  that  I  had  left  a  good 
impression. 

When  I  entered  my  offices,  I,  from  force  of 
habit,  mechanically  went  direct  to  the  ticker — • 
and  dropped  all  in  an  instant  from  the  pinnacle 
of  Heaven  into  a  boiling  inferno.  For  the  ticker 
was  just  spelling  out  these  words :  "  Mowbray 
Langdon,  president  of  the  Textile  Association, 
sailed  unexpectedly  on  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
at  noon.  A  two  per  cent,  raise  of  the  dividend 
rate  of  Textile  Common,  from  the  present  four 
per  cent,  to  six,  has  been  determined  upon." 

And  I  had  staked  up  to,  perhaps  beyond,  my 
limit  of  safety  that  Textile  would  fall ! 

Ball  was  watching  narrowly  for  some  sign 
that  the  news  was  as  bad  as  he  feared.  But 
it  cost  me  no  effort  to  keep  my  face  expression 
less;  I  was  like  a  man  who  has  been  killed  by 
lightning  and  lies  dead  with  the  look  on  his  face 
that  he  had  just  before  the  bolt  struck  him. 

"  Why  didn't  you  tell  me  this,"  said  I  to  Ball, 
"  when  I  had  you  on  the  'phone  ?  "  My  tone  was 
quiet  enough,  but  the  very  question  ought  to 


j88  THE  DELUGE 

have  shown  him  that  my  brain  was  like  a 
schooner  in  a  cyclone. 

"  We  heard  it  just  after  you  rang  off,"  was 
his  reply.  "  We've  been  trying  to  get  you  ever 
since.  I've  gone  everywhere  after  Textile  stock. 
Very  few  will  sell,  or  even  lend,  and  they  ask  — 
the  best  price  was  ten  points  above  to-day's  clos 
ing.  A  strong  tip's  out  that  Textiles  are  to  be 
rocketed." 

Ten  points  up  already  —  on  the  mere  rumor! 
Already  ten  dollars  to  pay  on  every  share  I  was 
"  short  " —  and  I  short  more  than  two  hundred 
thousand !  I  felt  the  claws  of  the  fiend  Ruin  sink 
into  the  flesh  of  my  shoulders.  "  Ball  doesn't 
know  how  I'm  fixed,"  I  remember  I  thought, 
"  and  he  mustn't  know." 

I  lit  a  cigar  with  a  steady  hand  and  waited  for 
Joe's  next  words. 

"  I  went  to  see  Jenkins  at  once,"  he  went  on. 
Jenkins  was  then  first  vice-president  of  the  Tex 
tile  Trust.  "  He's  all  cut  up  because  the  news 
got  out  —  says  Langdon  and  he  were  the  only 
ones  who  knew,  so  he  supposed  —  says  the  an 
nouncement  wasn't  to  have  been  made  for  a  month 
—  not  till  Langdon  returned.  He  has  had  to 
confirm  it,  though.  That  was  the  only  way  to 


TRAPPED  AND  TRIMMED  ^9 

free  his  crowd  from  suspicion  of  intending  to  rig 
the  market." 

"  All  right,"  said  I. 

"  Have  you  seen  the  afternoon  paper  ?  "  he 
asked.  As  he  held  it  out  to  me,  my  eye  caught 
big  Textile  head-lines,  then  flashed  to  some  others 

—  something  about  my  going  to  marry   Miss 
Ellersly. 

"  All  right,"  said  I,  and  with  the  paper  in  my 
hand,  went  to  my  outside  office.  I  kept  on  to 
ward  my  inner  office,  saying  over  my  shoulder 

—  to  the  stenographer :  "  Don't  let  anybody  in 
terrupt  me."     Behind  the  closed  and  locked  door 
my  body  ventured  to  come  to  life  again  and  my 
face  to  reflect  as  much  as  it  could  of  the  chaos 
that  was  heaving  in  me  like  ten  thousand  warring 
devils. 

Three  months  before,  in  the  same  situation, 
my  gambler's  instinct  would  probably  have  help 
ed  me  out.  For  I  had  not  been  gambling  in  the 
great  American  Monte  Carlo  all  those  years  with 
out  getting  used  to  the  downs  as  well  as  to  the 
ups.  I  had  not  —  and  have  not  —  anything  of 
the  business  man  in  my  composition.  To  me, 
it  was  wholly  finance,  wholly  a  game,  with 
excitement  the  chief  factor  and  the  sure  winning. 


I  go,  THE  DELUGE 

whether  the  little  ball  rolled  my  way  or  not.  I 
was  the  financier,  the  gambler  and  adventurer; 
and  that  had  been  my  principal  asset.  For,  the 
man  who  wins  in  the  long  run  at  any  of  the 
great  games  of  life  —  and  they  are  all  alike  — 
is  the  man  with  the  cool  head ;  and  the  only  man 
whose  head  is  cool  is  he  who  plays  for  the  game's 
sake,  not  caring  greatly  whether  he  wins  or  loses 
on  any  one  play,  because  he  feels  that  if  he  wins 
to-day,  he  will  lose  to-morrow ;  if  he  loses  to-day, 
he  will  win  to-morrow.  But  now  a  new  factor 
had  come  into  the  game.  I  spread  out  the  paper 
and  stared  at  the  head-lines :  "  Black  Matt  To 
Wed  Society  Belle  —  The  Bucket-Shop  King 
Will  Lead  Anita  Ellersly  To  The  Altar."  I  tried 
to  read  the  vulgar  article  under  these  vulgar  lines, 
but  I  could  not.  I  was  sick,  sick  in  body  and  in 
mind.  My  "  nerve  "  was  gone.  I  was  no  longer 
the  free  lance ;  I  had  responsibilities. 

That  thought  dragged  another  in  its  train,  an 
ugly,  grinning  imp  that  leered  at  me  and  sneered : 
"  But  she  won't  have  you  now!  " 

"  She  will !  She  must !  "  I  cried  aloud,  start 
ing  up.  And  then  the  storm  burst  —  I  raged  up 
and  down  the  floor,  shaking  my  clinched  fists, 
gnashing  my  teeth,  muttering  all  kinds  of  furious 


TRAPPED  AND  TRIMMED  IC;r 

commands  and  threats  —  a  truly  ridiculous  ex 
hibition  of  impotent  rage.  For  through  it  all  I 
saw  clearly  enough  that  she  wouldn't  have  me, 
that  all  these  people  I'd  been  trying  to  climb  up 
among  would  kick  loose  my  clinging  hands  and 
laugh  as  they  watched  me  disappear.  They  who 
were  none  too  gentle  and  slow  in  disengaging 
themselves  from  those  of  their  own  lifelong  asso 
ciates  who  had  reverses  of  fortune  —  what  con 
sideration  could  "  Black  Matt "  expect  from 
them?  And  she  —  The  necessity  and  the  ability 
to  deceive  myself  had  gone,  now  that  I  could  not 
pay  the  purchase  price  for  her.  The  full  hid- 
eousness  of  my  bargain  for  her  dropped  its  veil 
and  stood  naked  before  me. 

At  last,  disgusted  and  exhausted,  I  flung  my 
self  down  again,  and  dumbly  and  helplessly  in 
spected  the  ruins  of  my  projects  —  or,  rather, 
the  ruin  of  the  one  project  upon  which  I  had  my 
heart  set.  I  had  known  I  cared  for  her,  but  it 
had  seemed  to  me  she  was  simply  one  more,  the 
latest,  of  the  objects  on  which  I  was  in  the  habit 
of  fixing  my  will  from  time  to  time  to  make  the 
game  more  deeply  interesting.  I  now  saw  that 
never  before  had  I  really  been  in  earnest  about 
anything,  that  on  winning  her  I  had  staked  my- 


I92  THE  DELUGE 

self,  and  that  myself  was  a  wholly  different  per« 
son  from  what  I  had  been  imagining.  In  a  word, 
I  sat  face  to  face  with  that  unfathomable  mystery 
of  sex-affinity  that  every  man  laughs  at  and 
mocks  another  man  for  believing  in,  until  he  has 
himself  felt  it  drawing  him  against  will,  against 
reason,  and  sense,  and  interest,  over  the  brink  of 
destruction  yawning  before  his  eyes  —  drawing 
him  as  the  magnet-mountain  drew  Sindbad  and 
his  ship.  And  I  say  to  you  that  those  who  can 
defy  and  resist  that  compulsion  are  not  more,  but 
less,  than  man  or  woman;  and  their  fancied 
strength  is  in  reality  a  deficiency.  Looking 
calmly  back  upon  my  follies  under  her  spell,  I 
think  the  better  of  myself  for  them.  It  is  the 
splendid  follies  of  life  that  redeem  it  from  vul 
garity. 

But  —  it  is  not  in  me  to  despair.  There 
never  yet  was  an  impenetrable  siege  line;  to  es 
cape,  it  is  only  necessary  by  craft  or  by  chance 
to  hit  upon  the  moment  and  the  spot  for  the  sor 
tie.  "  Ruined !  "  I  said  aloud.  "  Trapped  and 
trimmed  like  the  stupidest  sucker  that  ever  wan 
dered  into  Wall  Street!  A  dead  one,  no  doubt; 
but  I'll  see  to  it  that  they  don't  enjoy  my 
funeral." 


XVII 


A  GENTEEL  "  HOLD-UP  " 


In  my  childhood  at  home,  my  father  was  often 
away  for  a  week  or  longer,  working  or  looking 
for  work.  My  mother  had  a  notion  that  a  boy 
should  be  punished  only  by  his  father ;  so,  when 
ever  she  caught  me  in  what  she  regarded  as  a  seri 
ous  transgression,  she  used  to  say :  *  You  will 
get  a  good  whipping  for  this,  when  your  father 
comes  home."  At  first  I  used  to  wait  passively, 
suffering  the  torments  of  ten  thrashings  before 
the  "good  whipping"  came  to  pass.  But  soon 
my  mind  began  to  employ  the  interval  more 
profitably.  I  would  scheme  to  escape  execution 
of  sentence;  and,  though  my  mother  was  a  de 
termined  woman,  many's  the  time  I  contrived  to 
change  her  mind.  I  am  net  recommending  to 
parents  the  system  of  delay  in  execution  of  sen 
tence;  but  I  must  say  that  in  my  case  it  was 
responsible  for  an  invaluable  discipline.  For  ex 
ample,  the  Textile  tangle. 
193 


THE  DELUGE 

I  knew  I  was  in  all  human  probability  doomed 
to  go  down  before  the  Stock  Exchange  had  been 
open  an  hour  the  next  morning.  All  Textile 
stocks  must  start  many  points  higher  than  they 
had  been  at  the  close,  must  go  steadily  and  swiftly 
up.  Entangled  as  my  reserve  resources  were  in  the 
Coal  deal,  I  should  have  no  chance  to  cover  my 
shorts  on  any  terms  less  than  the  loss  of  all  I  had. 
At  most,  I  could  hope  only  to  save  myself  from 
criminal  bankruptcy. 

And  now  my  early  training  in  coolly  and  calmly 
studying  how  to  avert  execution  of  sentence  came 
into  play.  There  is  a  kind  of  cornered-rat,  hit- 
or-miss,  last-ditch  fight  that  any  creature  will 
make  in  such  circumstances  as  mine  then  were, 
and  the  inspirations  of  despair  sometimes  happen 
to  be  lucky.  But  I  prefer  the  reasoned-out  plan. 

There  was  no  signal  of  distress  in  my  voice  as 
I  telephoned  Corey,  president  of  the  Interstate 
Trust  Company,  to  stay  at  his  office  until  I  came ; 
there  was  no  signal  of  distress  in  my  manner  as 
I  sallied  forth  and  went  down  to  the  Power 
Trust  Building ;  nor  did  I  show  or  suggest  that  I 
had  heard  the  "  shot-at-sunrise "  sentence,  as  I 
strode  into  Roebuck's  presence  and  greeted  him. 
I  was  assuming,  by  way  of  precaution,  that  some 


A  GENTEEL  "HOLD-UP 


195 


rumor  about  me  either  had  reached  him  or 
would  soon  reach  him.  I  knew  he  had  an  eye 
in  every  secret  of  finance  and  industry,  and,  while 
I  believed  my  secret  was  wholly  my  own,  I  had] 
too  much  at  stake  with  him  to  bank  on  that,  when 
I  could,  as  I  thought,  so  easily  reassure  him. 

"  I've  come  to  suggest,  Mr.  Roebuck/'  said  I, 
**  that  you  let  my  house  —  Blacklock  and  Com 
pany—announce  the  Coal  reorganization  plan. 
It  would  give  me  a  great  lift,  and  Melville  and 
his  bank  don't  need  prestige.  My  daily  letters 
to  the  public  on  investments  have,  as  you  know, 
got  me  a  big  following  that  would  help  me  make 
the  flotation  an  even  bigger  success  than  it's 
bound  to  be,  no  matter  who  announces  it  and  in 
vites  subscriptions." 

As  I  thus  proposed  that  I  be  in  a  jiffy  caught 
up  from  the  extremely  humble  level  of  reputed 
bucket-shop  dealer  into  the  highest  heaven  of 
high  finance,  that  I  be  made  the  official  spokes 
man  of  the  financial  gods,  his  expression  was  so 
ludicrous  that  I  almost  lost  my  gravity.  I  sus 
pect,  for  a  moment  he  thought  I  had  gone  mad. 
His  manner,  when  he  recovered  himself  suffi 
ciently  to  speak,  was  certainly  not  unlike  what  it 
would  have  been  had  he  found  himself  alone  be- 


I96  THE  DELUGE 

fore  a  dangerous  lunatic  who  was  armed  with  a 
bomb. 

"  You  know  how  anxious  I  am  to  help  you, 
to  further  your  interests,  Matthew,"  said  he 
wheedlingly.  "  I  know  no  man  who  has  a 
brighter  future.  But  —  not  so  fast,  not  so  fast, 
young  man.  Of  course,  you  will  appear  as  one 
of  the  reorganizing  committee  —  but  we  could 
not  afford  to  have  the  announcement  come 
through  any  less  strong  and  old  established  house 
than  the  National  Industrial  Bank." 

"At  least,  you  can  make  me  joint  announcer 
with  them,"  I  urged. 

"Perhaps  —  yes  —  possibly  —  we'll  see/'  said 
he  soothingly.  "  There  is  plenty  of  time." 

"  Plenty  of  time,"  I  assented,  as  if  quite  con 
tent.  "  I  only  wanted  to  put  the  matter  before 
you."  And  I  rose  to  go. 

"  Have  you  heard  the  news  of  Textile  Com 
mon?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,"  said  I  carelessly.  Then,  all  in  an  in 
stant,  a  plan  took  shape  in  my  mind.  "  I  own 
a  good  deal  of  the  stock,  and  I  must  say,  I  don't 
like  this  raise." 

"Why?  "he  inquired. 

"  Because     I'm     sure    it's    a    stock- jobbing 


A  GENTEEL  "HOLD-UP" 


197 


scheme,"  replied  I  boldly.  "  I  know  the  divi 
dend  wasn't  earned.  I  don't  like  that  sort  of 
thing,  Mr.  Roebuck.  Not  because  it's  unlaw 
ful  —  the  laws  are  so  clumsy  that  a  practical  man 
often  must  disregard  them.  But  because  it  is 
tampering  with  the  reputation  and  the  stability 
of  a  great  enterprise  for  the  sake  of  a  few  mil 
lions  of  dishonest  profit.  I'm  surprised  at  Lang- 
don." 

"I  hope  you're  wrong,  Matthew,"  was  Roe 
buck's  only  comment.  He  questioned  me  no  fur 
ther,  and  I  went  away,  confident  that,  when  the 
crash  came  in  the  morning,  if  come  it  must,  there 
would  be  no  more  astonished  man  in  Wall  Street 
than  Henry  J.  Roebuck.  How  he  must  have 
laughed;  or,  rather,  would  have  laughed,  if  his 
sort  of  human  hyena  expressed  its  emotions  in 
the  human  way. 

From  him,  straight  to  my  lawyers,  Whitehouse 
and  Fisher,  in  the  Mills  Building. 

"  I  want  you  to  send  for  the  newspaper  re 
porters  at  once,"  said  I  to  Fisher,  "  and  tell  them 
that  in  my  behalf  you  are  going  to  apply  for  an 
injunction  against  the  Textile  Trust,  forbidding 
them  to  take  any  further  steps  toward  that  in 
crease  of  dividend.  Tell  them  I,  as  a  large 


!98  THE  DELUGE 

stock-Holder,  arfd  representing  a  group  of  large 
stock-holders,  purpose  to  stop  the  paying  of  un 
earned  dividends." 

Fisher  knew  how  closely  connected  my  house 
and  the  Textile  Trust  had  been;  but  he  showed, 
and  probably  felt  no  astonishment  He  was  too 
experienced  in  the  ways  of  finance  and  financiers. 
It  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him  whether  I 
was  trying  to  assassinate  my  friend  and  ally,  or 
was  feinting  at  Langdon,  to  lure  the  public  with 
in  reach  so  that  we  might,  together,  fall  upon  it 
and  make  a  battue.  Your  lawyer  is  your  true 
mercenary.  Under  his  code  honor  consists  in 
making  the  best  possible  fight  in  exchange  for 
the  biggest  possible  fee.  He  is  frankly  for  sale 
to  the  highest  bidder.  At  least  so  it  is  with  those 
that  lead  the  profession  nowadays,  give  it  what 
is  called  "character"  and  "tone." 

Not  without  some  regret  did  I  thus  arrange  to 
attack  my  friend  in  his  absence.  "  Still,"  I  rea 
soned,  "  his  blunder  in  trusting  some  leaky  per 
son  with  his  secret  is  the  cause  of  my  peril  —  and 
I'll  not  have  to  justify  myself  to  him  for  trying 
to  save  myself."  What  effect  my  injunction 
would  have  I  could  not  foresee.  Certainly  it 
could  not  save  me  from  the  loss  of  my  fortune; 


A  GENTEEL  "HOLD-UP1' 


199 


but,  possibly,  it  might  check  the  upward  course 
of  the  stock  long  enough  to  enable  me  to  snatch 
myself  from  ruin,  and  to  cling  to  firm  ground 
until  the  Coal  deal  drew  me  up  to  safety. 

My  next  call  was  at  the  Interstate  Trust  Com 
pany.  I  found  Corey  waiting  for  me  in  a  most 
uneasy  state  of  mind. 

"  Is  there  any  truth  in  this  story  about  you?  " 
was  the  question  he  plumped  at  me. 

"  What  story?  "  said  I,  and  a  hard  fight  I  had 
to  keep  my  confusion  and  alarm  from  the  surface. 
For,  apparently,  my  secret  was  out. 

"  That  you're  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  Textile." 

So  it  was  out !  "  Some  truth,"  I  admitted, 
since  denial  would  have  been  useless  here. 
"  And  I've  come  to  you  for  the  money  to  tide  me 


over." 


He  grew  white,  a  sickly  white,  and  into  his  eyes 
came  a  horrible,  drowning  look. 

"  I  owe  a  lot  to  you,  Matt,"  he  pleaded.  "  But 
I've  done  you  a  great  many  favors,  haven't  I  ?  " 

"That  you  have,  Bob,"  I  cordially  agreed. 
"  But  this  isn't  a  favor.  It's  business." 

"  You  mustn't  ask  it,  Blacklock,"  he  cried. 
"  I've  loaned  you  more  money  now  than  the  law 
allows.  And  I  can't  let  you  have  any  more." 


200  THE  DELUGE 

"  Some  one  has  been  lying  to  you,  and  you've 
been  believing  him,"  said  I.  "  When  I  say  my 
request  isn't  a  favor,  but  business,  I  mean  it." 

"  I  can't  let  you  have  any  more,"  he  repeated. 
"  I  can't !  "  And  down  came  his  fist  in  a  weak- 
violent  gesture. 

I  leaned  forward  and  laid  my  hand  strongly  on 
his  arm. 

"  In  addition  to  the  stock  of  this  concern  that 
I  hold  in  my  own  name,"  said  I,  "  I  hold  five 
shares  in  the  name  of  a  man  whom  nobody 
knows  that  I  even  know.  If  you  don't  let  me 
have  the  money,  that  man  goes  to  the  district  at 
torney  with  information  that  lands  you  in  the 
penitentiary,  that  puts  your  company  out  of 
business  and  into  bankruptcy  before  to-morrow 
noon.  I  saved  you  three  years  ago,  and  got  you 
this  job  against  just  such  an  emergency  as  this, 
Bob  Corey.  And,  by  God,  you'll  toe  the  mark !  " 

"  But  we  haven't  done  anything  that  every 
bank  in  town  doesn't  do  every  day — 'doesn't 
have  to  do.  If  we  didn't  lend  money  to  dummy 
borrowers  and  over-certify  accounts,  our  custo 
mers  would  go  where  they  could  get  accommoda 
tions." 

"That's  true  enough,"  said  I.     "But  I'm  in 


A  GENTEEL  "  HOLD-UP  »  2OI 

a  position  for  the  moment  where  I  need  my 
friends  —  and  they've  got  to  come  to  time.  If 
I  don't  get  the  money  from  you,  I'll  get  it  else 
where —  but  over  the  cliff  with  you  and  your 
bank!  The  laws  youVe  been  violating  may  be 
bad  for  the  practical  banking  business,  but  they're 
mighty  good  for  punishing  ingratitude  and 
treachery." 

He  sat  there,  yellow  and  pinched,  and  shiver 
ing  every  now  and  then.  He  made  no  reply. 
He  was  one  of  those  shells  of  men  that  are  con 
spicuous  as  figureheads  in  every  department  of 
active  life  —  fellows  with  well-shaped,  white- 
haired  or  prematurely  bald  heads,  and  grave,  re 
spectable  faces;  they  look  dignified  and  substan 
tial,  and  the  soul  of  uprightness ;  they  coin  their 
looks  into  good  salaries  by  selling  themselves  as 
covers  for  operations  of  the  financiers.  And  how 
those  operations,  in  the  nude,  as  it  were,  would 
terrify  the  plodders  that  save  up  and  deposit  or 
invest  the  money  the  financiers  gamble  with  on  the 
big  green  tables! 

Presently  I  shook  his  arm  impatiently.  His 
eyes  met  mine,  and  I  fixed  them. 

"  I'm  going  to  pull  through/'  said  I.  "  But  if 
I  weren't,  I'd  see  to  it  that  you  were  protected. 


202  THE  DELUGE 

Come,  what's  your  answer?  Friend  or  trai* 
tor?" 

"  Can't  you  give  me  any  security  —  any  col 
lateral?" 

"  No  more  than  I  took  from  you  when  I  saved 
you  as  you  were  going  down  with  the  rest  in  the 
Dumont  smash.  My  word  —  that's  all.  I  bor 
row  on  the  same  terms  you've  given  me  before,, 
the  same  you're  giving  four  of  your  heaviest 
borrowers  right  now."  ^ 

He  winced  as  I  thus  reminded  him  how  mi 
nute  my  knowledge  was  of  the  workings  of  his 
bank. 

"  I  didn't  think  this  of  you,  Matt,"  he  whined. 
"  I  believed  you  above  such  hold-up  methods." 

"  I  suit  my  methods  to  the  men  I'm  dealing" 
with,"  was  my  answer.  "  These  fellows  are  try 
ing  to  push  me  off  the  life  raft.  I  fight  with 
every  weapon  I  can  lay  hands  on.  And  I  know 
as  well  as  you  do  that,  if  you  get  into  serious 
trouble  through  this  loan,  at  least  five  men  we 
could  both  name  would  have  to  step  in  and  save 
the  bank  and  cover  up  the  scandal.  You'll 
blackmail  them,  just  as  you've  blackmailed  them 
before,  and  they  you.  Blackmail 's  a  legitimate 
part  of  the  game.  Nobody  appreciates  that  bet- 


A  GENTEEL  "HOLD-UP"  203 

ter  than  you."  It  was  no  time  for  the  smug 
hypocrisies  under  which  we  people  down  town 
usually  conduct  our  business  —  just  as  the  des 
peradoes  used  to  patrol  the  highways  disguised 
as  peaceful  merchants. 

"  Send  round  in  the  morning  and  get  the 
money/'  said  he,  putting  on  a  resigned,  hopeless 
look. 

I  laughed.  "  I'll  feel  easier  if  I  take  it  now,"  I 
replied.  "  We'll  fix  up  the  notes  and  checks  at 
once." 

He  reddened,  but  after  a  brief  hesitation  busied 
himself.  When  the  papers  were  all  made  up  and 
signed,  and  I  had  the  certified  checks  in  my 
pocket,  I  said :  "  Wait  here,  Bob,  until  the  Na 
tional  Industrial  people  call  you  up.  I'll  ask 
them  to  do  it,  so  they  can  get  your  personal  as 
surance  that  everything's  all  right.  And  I'll 
stop  there  until  they  tell  me  they've  talked  with 
you." 

"  But  it's  too  late,"  he  said,  "  You  can't  de 
posit  to-day." 

"  I've  a  special  arrangement  with  them,"  I  re 
plied. 

His  face  betrayed  him.  I  saw  that  at  no 
stage  of  that  proceeding  had  I  been  wiser  than  in 


2O4 


THE  DELUGE 


shutting  off  his  last  chance  to  evade.  What 
scheme  he  had  in  mind  I  don't  know,  arid  can't 
imagine.  But  he  had  thought  out  something, 
probably  something  foolish  that  would  have  given 
me  trouble  without  saving  him.  A  foolish  man  in 
a  tight  place  is  as  foolish  as  ever,  and  Corey  was  a 
foolish  man  —  only  a  fool  commits  crimes  that 
put  him  in  the  power  of  others.  The  crimes  of 
the  really  big  captains  of  industry  and  generals 
of  finance  are  of  the  kind  that  puts  others  in  their 
power. 

"  Buck  up,  Corey,"  said  I.  "  Do  you  think 
I'm  the  man  to  shut  a  friend  in  the  hold  of  a 
sinking  ship  ?  Tell  me,  who  told  you  I  was  short 
on  Textile?" 

"  One  of  my  men,"  he  slowly  replied,  as  he 
braced  himself  together. 

"Which  one?  Who?"  I  persisted.  For  I 
wanted  to  know  just  how  far  the  news  was  likely 
to  spread. 

He  seemed  to  be  thinking  out  a  lie. 

"The  truth!"  I  commanded.  "I  know  it 
couldn't  have  been  one  of  your  men.  Who  was 
it?  I'll  not  give  you  away." 

"  It  was  Tom  Langdon,"  he  finally  said. 

I  checked  an  exclamation  of  amazement.     I 


A  GENTEEL  "HOLD-UP"  205 

had  been  assuming  that  I  had  been  betrayed  by 
some  one  of  those  tiny  mischances  that  so  often 
throw  the  best  plans  into  confusion. 

"  Tom  Langdon,"  I  said  satirically.  "  It  was 
he  that  warned  you  against  me  ?  " 

"It  was  a  friendly  act/'  said  Corey.  "He 
and  I  are  very  intimate.  And  he  doesn't  know 
how  close  you  and  I  are." 

"  Suggested  that  you  call  my  loans,  did  he?'* 
I  went  on. 

"  You  mustn't  blame  him,  Blacklock ;  realty 
you  mustn't,"  said  Corey  earnestly,  for  he  was 
a  pretty  good  friend  to  those  he  liked,  as  friend 
ship  goes  in  finance.  "  He  happened  to  hear. 
You  know  the  Langdons  keep  a  sharp  watch  on 
operations  in  their  stock.  And  he  dropped  in  to 
warn  me  as  a  friend.  You'd  do  the  same  thing  in 
the  same  circumstances.  He  didn't  say  a  word 
about  my  calling  your  loans.  I  —  to  be  frank  — 
I  instantly  thought  of  it  myself.  I  intended  to 
do  it  when  you  came,  but" — a  sickly  smile  — 
"you  anticipated  me." 

"  I  understand,"  said  I  good-humoredly.  "  I 
don't  blame  him."  And  I  didn't  then. 

After  I  had  completed  my  business  at  the  Na 
tional  Industrial,  I  went  back  to  my  office  and 


206  THE  DELUGE 

gathered  together  the  threads  of  my  web  of  de 
fense.  Then  I  wrote  and  sent  out  to  all  my  news 
papers  and  all  my  agents  a  broadside  against  the 
management  of  the  Textile  Trust  —  it  would  be 
published  in  the  morning,  in  good  time  for  the 
opening  of  the  Stock  Exchange.  Before  the  first 
quotation  of  Textile  could  be  made,  thousands  on 
thousands  of  investors  and  speculators  through 
out  the  country  would  have  read  my  letter,  would 
be  believing  that  Matthew  Blacklock  had  detect 
ed  the  Textile  Trust  in  a  stock- jobbing  swindle, 
and  had  promptly  turned  against  it,  preferring 
to  keep  faith  with  his  customers  and  with  the 
public.  As  I  read  over  my  pronunciamiento 
aloud  before  sending  it  out,  I  found  in  it  a  note 
of  confidence  that  cheered  me  mightily.  "I'm 
even  stronger  than  I  thought,"  said  I.  And  I 
felt  stronger  still  as  I  went  on  to  picture  the 
thousands  on  thousands  throughout  the  land 
rallying  at  my  call  to  give  battle.. 


XVIII 

ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF 

I  had  asked  Sam  Ellersly  to  dine  with  me;  so 
preoccupied  was  I  that  net  until  ten  minutes  be 
fore  the  hour  set  did  he  come  into  my  mind  — 
he  or  any  of  his  family,  even  his  sister.  My  first 
impulse  was  to  send  word  that  I  couldn't  keep 
the  engagement.  "  But  I  must  dine  somewhere," 
I  reflected,  "  and  there's  no  reason  why  I 
shouldn't  dine  with  him,  since  I've  done  every 
thing  that  can  be  done."  In  my  office  suite  I 
had  a  bath  and  dressing-room,  with  a  complete 
wardrobe.  Thus,  by  hurrying  a  little  over  my 
toilet,  and  by  making  my  chauffeur  crowd  the 
speed  limit,  I  was  at  Delmonico's  only  twenty 
minutes  late. 

Sam,  who  had  been  late  also,  as  usual,  was 
having  a  cocktail  and  was  ordering  the  dinner. 
I  smoked  a  cigarette  and  watched  him.  At  busi 
ness  or  at  anything  serious  his  mind  was  all  but 
useless ;  but  at  ordering  dinner  and  things  of  that 
207 


2o8  THE  DELUGE 

sort,  he  shone.  Those  small  accomplishments  of 
his  had  often  moved  me  to  a  sort  of  pitying  con 
tempt,  as  if  one  saw  a  man  of  talent  devoting 
himself  to  engraving  the  Lord's  Prayer  on  gold 
dollars.  That  evening,  however,  as  I  saw  how 
comfortable  and  contented  he  looked,  with  not  a 
care  in  the  world,  since  he  was  to  have  a  good 
dinner  and  a  good  cigar  afterward ;  as  I  saw  how 
much  genuine  pleasure  he  was  getting  out  of  se 
lecting  the  dishes  and  giving  the  waiter  minute 
directions  for  the  chef,  I  envied  him. 

What  Langdon  had  once  said  came  back  to  me : 
{<  We  are  under  the  tyranny  of  to-morrow,  and 
happiness  is  impossible."  And  I  thought  how 
true  that  was.  But,  for  the  Sammys,  high  and 
low,  there  is  no  to-morrow.  He  was  somehow 
impressing  me  with  a  sense  that  he  was  my  su 
perior.  His  face  was  weak,  and,  in  a  weak  way, 
bad ;  but  there  was  a  certain  fineness  of  quality  in 
it,  a  sort  of  hothouse  look,  as  if  he  had  been 
sheltered  all  his  life,  and  brought  up  on  especially 
selected  food.  "  Men  like  me,"  thought  I  with  a 
certain  envy,  "  rise  and  fall.  But  his  sort  of  men 
have  got  something  that  can't  be  taken  away,  that 
enables  them  to  carry  off  with  grace,  poverty  or 
the  degradation  of  being  spongers  and  beggars ." 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF 


209 


This  shows  how  far  I  had  let  that  attack  of  snob 
bishness  eat  into  me.  I  glanced  down  at  my 
hands.  No  delicateness  there;  certainly  those 
fingers,  though  white  enough  nowadays,  and  long 
enough,  too,  were  not  made  for  fancy  work  and 
parlor  tricks.  They  would  have  looked  in  place 
round  the  handle  of  a  spade  or  the  throttle  of  an 
engine,  while  Sam's  seemed  made  for  the  key 
board  of  a  piano. 

:t  You  must  come  over  to  my  rooms  after  din 
ner,  and  give  me  some  music/'  said  I. 

"  Thanks,"  he  replied,  "  but  I've  promised  to 
go  home  and  play  bridge.  Mother's  got  a  few  in 
to  dinner,  and  more  are  coming  afterward,  I  be 
lieve." 

"  Then  I'll  go  with  you,  and  talk  to  your  sister 
• —  she  doesn't  play." 

He  glanced  at  me  in  a  way  that  made  me  pass 
my  hand  over  my  face.  I  learned  at  least  part 
of  the  reason  for  my  feeling  at  disadvantage  be 
fore  him.  I  had  forgotten  to  shave;  and  as  my 
beard  is  heavy  and  black,  it  has  to  be  looked  after 
twice  a  day.  "  Oh,  I  can  stop  at  my  rooms  and 
get  my  face  into  condition  in  a  few  minutes," 
said  I. 

"  And  put   on   evening  dress,   too,"   he   sug- 


2io  THE  DELUGE 

gested.  "  You  wouldn't  want  to  go  in  a  dinner 
jacket" 

I  can't  say  why  this  was  the  "  last  straw,"  but 
it  was. 

"  Bother !  "  said  I,  my  common  sense  smashing 
the  spell  of  snobbishness  that  had  begun  to  reas 
sert  itself  as  soon  as  I  got  into  his  unnatural,  un 
healthy  atmosphere.  "  I'll  go  as  I  am,  beard  and 
all.  I  only  make  myself  ridiculous,  trying  to  be 
a  sheep.  I'm  a  goat,  and  a  goat  I'll  stay." 

That  shut  him  into  himself.  When  he  re- 
emerged,  it  was  to  say :  "  Something  doing 
down  town  to-day,  eh  ?  " 

A  sharpness  in  his  voice  and  in  his  eyes,  too, 
made  me  put  my  mind  on  him  more  closely,  and 
then  I  saw  what  I  should  have  seen  before  — 
that  he  was  moody  and  slightly  distant. 

"  Seen  Tom  Langdon  this  afternoon?"  I  asked 
carelessly". 

He  colored.  "Yes  —  had  lunch  with  him," 
was  his  answer. 

I  smiled  —  for  his  benefit.  "  Aha !  "  thought 
I.  "  So  Tom  Langdon  has  been  fool  enough  to 
take  this  paroquet  into  his  confidence."  Then  I 
said  to  him:  "Is  Tom  making  the  rounds, 
warning  the  rats  to  leave  the  sinking  ship  ?  " 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF         2II 

"What  do  you  mean,  Matt?"  he  demanded, 
as  if  I  had  accused  him. 

I  looked  steadily  at  him,  and  I  imagine  my  un 
shaven  jaw  did  not  make  my  aspect  alluring. 

"  That  I'm  thinking  of  driving  the  rats  over 
board/'  replied  I.  "  The  ship's  sound,  but  it 
would  be  sounder  if  there  were  fewer  of  them." 

'  You  don't  imagine  anything  Tom  could  say 
would  change  my  feelings  toward  you?"  he 
pleaded. 

"  I  don't  know,  and  I  don't  care  a  damn,"  re 
plied  I  coolly.  "  But  I  do  know,  before  the 
Langdons  or  anybody  else  can  have  Blacklock 
pie,  they'll  have  first  to  catch  their  Blacklock." 

I  saw  Langdon  had  made  him  uneasy,  despite 
his  belief  in  my  strength.  And  he  was  groping 
for  confirmation  or  reassurance.  "  But,"  thought 
I,  "  if  he  thinks  I  may  be  going  up  the  spout,  why 
isn't  he  more  upset?  He  probably  hates  me  be 
cause  I've  befriended  him,  but  no  matter  how 
much  he  hated  me,  wouldn't  his  fear  of  being 
cut  off  from  supplies  drive  him  almost  crazy?" 
I  studied  him  in  vain  for  sign  of  deep  anxiety. 
Either  Tom  didn't  tell  him  much,  I  decided,  or  he 
didn't  believe  Tom  knew  what  he  was  talking 
about. 


2J2  THE  DELUGE 

"  What  did  Tom  say  about  me  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Oh,  almost  nothing.  We  were  talking  chief 
ly  of  —  of  club  matters/*  he  answered,  in  a  fair 
imitation  of  his  usual  offhand  manner. 

"  When  does  my  name  come  up  there  ?  "  said  I. 

He  flushed  and  shifted.  "  I  was  just  about  to 
tell  you,"  he  stammered.  "But  perhaps  you 
know?" 

"Know  what?" 

"  That Hasn't  Tom  told  you  ?  He  has 

withdrawn  —  and  —  you'll  have  to  get  another 
second  —  if  you  think  —  that  is  —  unless  you  — 
I  suppose  you'd  have  told  me,  if  you'd  changed 
your  mind  ?  " 

Since  I  had  become  so  deeply  interested  in 
Anita,  my  ambition  —  ambition!  —  to  join  the 
Travelers  had  all  but  dropped  out  of  my  mind. 

"I  had  forgotten  about  it,"  said  I.  "But, 
now  that  you  remind  me,  I  want  my  name  with 
drawn.  It  was  a  passing  fancy.  It  was  part 
and  parcel  of  a  lot  of  damn  foolishness  I've  been 
indulging  in  for  the  last  few  months.  But  I've 
come  to  my  senses  —  and  it's  '  me  to  the  wild/ 
where  I  belong,  Sammy,  from  this  time  on." 

He  looked  tremendously  relieved,  and  a  little 
puzzled,  too.  I  thought  I  was  reading  him  like 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF 


213 


an  illuminated  sign.  "  He's  eager  to  keep 
friends  with  me/'  thought  I,  "  until  he's  absolute 
ly  sure  there's  nothing  more  in  it  for  him  and 
his  people."  And  that  guess  was  a  pretty  good 
one.  It  is  not  to  the  discredit  of  my  shrewdness 
that  I  didn't  see  it  was  not  hope,  but  fear,  that 
made  him  try  to  placate  me.  I  could  not  have 
possibly  known  then  what  the  Langdons  had 

done.  But Sammy  was  saying,  in  his 

friendliest  tone: 

"What's  the  matter,  old  man?  You're  sour 
to-night." 

"  Never  in  a  better  humor/'  I  assured  him,  and 
as  I  spoke  the  words  they  came  true.  What  I 
had  been  saying  about  the  Travelers  and  all  it 
represented  —  all  the  snobbery,  and  smirking, 
and  rotten  pretense  —  my  final  and  absolute  re 
nunciation  of  it  all  —  acted  on  me  as  I've  seen  re 
ligion  act  on  the  fellows  that  used  to  go  up  to  the 
mourners'  bench  at  the  revivals.  I  felt  as  if  I 
had  suddenly  emerged  from  the  parlor  of  a  dive 
and  its  stench  of  sickening  perfumes,  into  the 
pure  air  of  God's  Heaven. 

I  signed  the  bill,  and  we  went  afoot  up  the  ave 
nue.  Sam,  as  I  saw  with  a  good  deal  of  amuse 
ment,  was  trying  to  devise  some  subtle,  tactful 


214  THE  DELUGE 

way  of  attaching  his  poor,  clumsy  little  suction- 
pump  to  the  well  of  my  secret  thoughts. 

"  What  is  it,  Sammy  ?  "  said  I  at  last.  "  What 
do  you  want  to  know  that  you're  afraid  to  ask 
me?" 

"  Nothing,"  he  said  hastily.  "  I'm  only  a  bit 
worried  about  —  about  you  and  Textile.  Matt," 
—  this  in  the  tone  of  deep  emotion  we  reserve  for 
the  attempt  to  lure  our  friends  into  confiding  that 
about  themselves  which  will  give  us  the  oppor 
tunity  to  pity  them,  and,  if  necessary,  to  sheer  off 
from  them  — "  Matt,  I  do  hope  you  haven't  been 
hard  hit?" 

"  Not  yet,"  said  I  easily.  "  Dry  your  tears 
and  put  away  your  black  clothes.  Your  friend, 
Tom  Langdon,  was  a  little  premature." 

"  I'm  afraid  I've  given  you  a  false  impression," 
Sam  continued,  with  an  overeagerness  to  con 
vince  me  that  did  not  attract  my  attention  at  the 
time.  "  Tom  merely  said,  '  I  hear  Blacklock  is 
loaded  up  with  Textile  shorts/ — that  was  all. 
A  careless  remark.  I  really  didn't  think  of  it 
again  until  I  saw  you  looking  so  black  and  glum." 

That  seemed  natural  enough,  so  I  changed  the 
subject.  As  we  entered  his  house,  I  said : 

"  I'll  not  go  up  to  the  drawing-room.     Make 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF         215 

my  excuses  to  your  mother,  will  you?  I'll  turn 
into  the  little  smoking-room  here.  Tell  your  sis 
ter  —  and  say  I'm  going  to  stop  only  a  moment." 

Sam  had  just  left  me  when  the  butler  came. 
"  Mr.  Ball  —  I  think  that  was  the  name,  sir  — 
wishes  to  speak  to  you  on  the  telephone." 

I  had  given  Ellerslys'  as  one  of  the  places  at 
which  I  might  be  found,  should  it  be  necessary 
to  consult  me.  I  followed  the  butler  to  the  tele 
phone  closet  under  the  main  stairway.  As  soon 
as  Ball  made  sure  it  was  I,  he  began : 

"  I'll  use  the  code  words.  I've  just  seen  Fear 
less,  as  you  told  me  to." 

Fearless  —  that  was  Mitchell,  my  spy  in  the 
employ  of  Tavistock,  who  was  my  principal  rival 
in  the  business  of  confidential  brokerage  for  the 
high  financiers.  "Yes,"  said  I.  "What  does 
he  say?" 

"  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  heavy  buying 
for  a  month  past." 

Then  my  dread  was  well-founded  —  Textiles 
were  to  be  deliberately  rocketed.  "  Who's  been 
doing  it  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  He  found  out  only  this  afternoon.  If  s  been 
kept  unusually  dark.  It  — " 

"Who?    Who?  "I  demanded. 


2i6  THE  DELUGE 

"  Intrepid,"  he  answered. 

Intrepid — that  is,  Langdon — Mowbray  Lang- 
don! 

"  The  whole  thing  was  planned  carefully/'  con 
tinued  Ball,  "  and  is  coming  off  according  to 
schedule.  Fearless  overheard  a  final  message  In 
trepid' s  brother  brought  from  him  to-day." 

So  it  was  no  mischance  —  it  was  an  assassina 
tion.  Mowbray  Langdon  had  stabbed  me  in  the 
back  and  fled. 

"Did  you  hear  what  I  said?"  asked  Ball. 
"Is  that  you?" 

"  Yes,"  I  replied. 

"  Oh,"  came  in  a  relieved  tone  from  the  other 
end  of  the  wire.  "  You  were  so  long  in  answer 
ing  that  I  thought  I'd  been  cut  off.  Any  instruc 
tions?" 

"  No,"  said  I.     "  Good-by." 

I  heard  him  ring  off,  but  I  sat  there  for  several 
minutes,  the  receiver  still  to  my  ear.  I  was  mut 
tering  :  "  Langdon,  Langdon —  why  —  why  — 
why  ?  "  again  and  again.  Why  had  he  turned 
against  me?  Why  had  he  plotted  to  destroy  me 

—  one  of  those  plots  so  frequent  in  Wall  Street 

—  where  the  assassin  steals  up,  delivers  the  mor 
tal  blow,  and  steals  away  without  ever  being  de- 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF 


217 


tected  or  even  suspected?  I  saw  the  whole  plot 
now  —  I  understood  Tom  Langdon's  activities,  I 
recalled  Mowbray  Langdon's  curious  phrases  and 
looks  and  tones.  But  —  why  —  why  —  why? 
How  was  I  in  his  way  ? 

It  was  all  dark  to  me  —  pitch-dark.  I  re 
turned  to  the  smoking-room,  lighted  a  cigar,  sat 
fumbling  at  the  new  situation.  I  was  in  no  worse 
plight  than  before  —  what  did  it  matter  who  was 
attacking  me?  In  the  circumstances,  a  novice 
could  now  destroy  me  as  easily  as  a  Langdon. 
Still,  Ball's  news  seemed  to  take  away  my  cour 
age.  I  reminded  myself  that  1  was  used  to 
treachery  of  this  sort,  that  I  deserved  what  I  was 
getting  because  I  had,  like  a  fool,  dropped  my 
guard  in  the  fight  that  is  always  an  every-man- 
for-himself.  But  I  reminded  myself  in  vain. 
Langdon's  smiling  treachery  made  me  heart-sick. 

Soon  Anita  appeared  —  preceded  and  herald 
ed  by  a  faint  rustling  from  soft  and  clinging 
skirts,  that  swept  my  nerves  like  a  love-tune.  I 
suppose  for  all  men  there  is  a  charm,  a  spell,  be 
yond  expression,  in  the  sight  of  a  delicate  beauti 
ful  young  woman,  especially  if  she  be  dressed  in 
those  fine  fabrics  that  look  as  if  only  a  fairy  loom 
could  have  woven  them;  and  when  a  man  loves 


218  THE  DELUGE 

the  woman  who  bursts  upon  his  vision,  that  spell 
must  overwhelm  him,  especially  if  he  be  such  a 
man  as  was  I  —  a  product  of  life's  roughest  fac 
tories,  hard  and  harsh,  an  elbower  and  a  tramp- 
ler,  a  hustler  and  a  bluffer.  Then,  you  must  also 
consider  the  exact  circumstances  —  I  standing 
there,  with  destruction  hanging  over  me,  with  the 
sense  that  within  a  few  hours  I  should  be  a  pariah 
to  her,  a  masquerader  stripped  of  his  disguise 
and  cast  out  from  the  ball  where  he  had  been 
making  so  merry  and  so  free.  Only  a  few  hours 
more!  Perhaps  now  was  the  last  time  I  should 
ever  stand  so  near  to  her!  The  full  realization 
of  all  this  swallowed  me  up  as  in  a  great,  thick, 
black  mist.  And  my  arms  strained  to  escape 
from  my  tightly-locked  hands,  strained  to  seize 
her,  to  snatch  from  her,  reluctant  though  she 
might  be,  at  least  some  part  of  the  happiness  that 
was  to  be  denied  me. 

I  think  my  torment  must  have  somehow  pene 
trated  to  her.  For  she  was  sweet  and  friendly 
—  and  she  could  not  have  hurt  me  worse!  If  I 
had  followed  my  impulse  I  should  have  fallen  at 
her  feet  and  buried  my  face,  scorching,  in  the 
folds  of  that  pale  blue,  faintly-shimmering  robe  of 
hers. 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF         219 

"  Do  throw  away  that  huge,  hideous  cigar," 
she  said,  laughing.  And  she  took  two  cigarettes 
from  the  box,  put  both  between  her  lips,  lit  them, 
held  one  toward  me.  I  looked  at  her  face,  and 
along  her  smooth,  bare,  outstretched  arm,  and  at 
the  pink,  slender  fingers  holding  the  cigarette. 
I  took  it  as  if  I  were  afraid  the  spell  would  be 
broken,  should  my  ringers  touch  hers.  Afraid 
—  that's  it!  That's  why  I  didn't  pour  out  all 
that  was  in  my  heart.  I  deserved  to  lose  her. 

"  I'm  taking  you  away  from  the  others/'  I  said. 
We  could  hear  the  murmur  of  many  voices  and  of 
music.  In  fancy  I  could  see  them  assembled 
round  the  little  card-tables  —  the  well-fed  bodies, 
the  well-cared- for  skins,  the  elaborate  toilets,  the 
useless  jeweled  hands  —  comfortable,  secure,  self- 
satisfied,  idle,  always  idle,  always  playing  at  the 
imitation  games  —  like  their  own  pampered  child 
ren,  to  be  sheltered  in  the  nurseries  of  wealth 
their  whole  lives  through.  And  not  at  all  in  bit 
terness,  but  wholly  in  sadness,  a  sense  of  the  in 
justice,  the  unfairness  of  it  all  —  a  sense  that  had 
been  strong  in  me  in  my  youth  but  blunted  dur 
ing  the  years  of  my  busy  prosperity  —  returned 
for  a  moment.  For  a  moment  only;  my  mind 
was  soon  back  to  realities  —  to  her  and  me — • 


220  THE  DELUGE 

to  "  us."  How  soon  it  would  never  be  "  us " 
again ! 

"  They're  mama's  friends,"  Anita  was  answer- 
ing.  "  Oldish  and  tiresome.  When  you  leave 
I  shall  go  straight  on  up  to  bed." 

"  I'd  like  to  —  to  see  your  room  —  where  you 
live,"  said  I,  more  to  myself  than  to  her. 

"  I  sleep  in  a  bare  little  box,"  she  replied  with 
a  laugh.  "  It's  like  a  cell.  A  friend  of  ours 
who  has  the  anti-germ  fad  insisted  on  it.  But 
my  sitting-room  isn't  so  bad." 

"  Langdon  has  the  anti-germ  fad/'  said  I. 

She  answered  "  Yes  "  after  a  pause,  and  in 
.such  a  strained  voice  that  I  looked  at  her.  A 
flush  was  just  dying  out  of  her  face.  "  He  was 
the  friend  I  spoke  of,"  she  went  on. 

"  You  know  him  very  well  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  We've  known  him  —  always/'  said  she.  "  1 
think  he's  one  of  my  earliest  recollections.  His 
father's  summer  place  and  ours  adjoin.  And 
once  —  I  guess  it's  the  first  time  I  remember  see 
ing  him  —  he  was  a  freshman  at  Harvard,  and 
he  came  along  on  a  horse  past  the  pony  cart  in 
which  a  groom  was  driving  me.  And  I  —  I  was 
very  little  then  —  I  begged  him  to  take  me  up, 
and  he  did.  I  thought  he  was  the  greatest,  most 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF         22I 

wonderful  man  that  ever  lived."  She  laughed 
queerly.  "  When  I  said  my  prayers,  I  used  to 
imagine  a  god  that  looked  like  him  to  say  them 
to." 

I  echoed  her  laugh  heartily.  The  idea  of 
Mowbray  Langdon  as  a  god  struck  me  as  pecu- 
liary  funny,  though  natural  enough,  too. 

"Absurd,  wasn't  it?"  said  she.  But  her  face 
was  grave,  and  she  let  her  cigarette  die  out. 

"  I  guess  you  know  him  better  than  that  now  ?  " 

"  Yes  —  better,"  she  answered,  slowly  and  ab 
sently.  "  He's  —  anything  but  a  god !  " 

"  And  the  more  fascinating  on  that  account," 
said  I.  "  I  wonder  why  women  like  best  the 
really  bad,  dangerous  sort  of  man,  who  hasn't 
any  respect  for  them,  or  for  anything." 

I  said  this  that  she  might  protest,  at  least  for 
herself.  But  her  answer  was  a  vague,  musing, 
"  I  wonder  —  I  wonder." 

"  I'm  sure  you  wouldn't/'  I  protested  earnestly, 
for  her. 

She  looked  at  me  queerly. 

"  Can  I  never  convince  you  that  I'm  just  a 
woman  ?  "  said  she  mockingly.  "  Just  a  woman, 
and  one  a  man  with  your  ideas  of  women  would 
fly  from." 


222  THE  DELUGE 

"  I  wish  you  were !  "  I  exclaimed.  "  Then  — 
I'd  not  find  it  so  —  so  impossible  to  give  you  up." 

She  rose  and  made  a  slow  tour  of  the  room, 
halting  on  the  rug  before  the  closed  fireplace  a  few 
feet  from  me.  I  sat  looking  at  her. 

"  I  am  going  to  give  you  up/'  I  said  at  last. 

Her  eyes,  staring  into  vacancy,  grew  larger 
and  intenser  with  each  long,  deep  breath  she 
took. 

"  I  didn't  intend  to  say  what  I'm  about  to  say 

—  at  least,  not  this  evening,"  I  went  on,  and  to 
me  it  seemed  to  be  some  other  than  myself  who 
was  speaking.     "  Certain  things  happened  down 
town  to-day  that  have  set  me  to  thinking.     And 

—  I  shall  do  whatever  I  can  for  your  brother  and 
your  father.     But  you  —  you  are  free !  " 

She  went  to  the  table,  stood  there  in  profile  to 
me,  straight  and  slender  as  a  sunflower  stalk. 
She  traced  the  silver  chasings  in  the  lid  of  the 
cigarette  box  with  her  forefinger;  then  she  took 
a  cigarette  and  began  rolling  it  slowly  and  ab 
sently. 

"  Please  don't  scent  and  stain  your  fingers  with 
that  filthy  tobacco/'  said  I  rather  harshly. 

"  And  only  this  afternoon  you  were  saying  you 
had  become  reconciled  to  my  vice  —  that  you  had 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF 

canonized  it  along  with  me  —  wasn't  that  your 
phrase?"  This  indifferently,  without  turning 
toward  me,  and  as  if  she  were  thinking  of  some 
thing  else. 

"  So  I  have/'  retorted  I.  "  But  my  mood  — 
please  oblige  me  this  once." 

She  let  the  cigarette  fall  into  the  box,  closed 
the  lid  gently,  leaned  against  the  table,  folded  her 
arms  upon  her  bosom  and  looked  full  at  me.  I 
was  as  acutely  conscious  of  her  every  movement, 
of  the  very  coming  and  going  of  the  breath  at 
her  nostrils,  as  a  man  on  the  operating-table  is 
conscious  of  the  slightest  gesture  of  the  surgeon. 

"  You  are  —  suffering !  "  she  said,  and  her 
voice  was  like  the  flow  of  oil  upon  a  burn.  "  I 
have  never  seen  you  like  this.  I  didn't  believe 
you  capable  of  —  of  much  feeling." 

I  could  not  trust  myself  to  speak.  If  Bob 
Corey  could  have  looked  in  on  that  scene,  could 
have  understood  it,  how  amazed  he  would  have 
been! 

"What  happened  down  town  to-day?"  she 
went  on.  "  Tell  me,  if  I  may  know." 

"  I'll  tell  you  what  I  didn't  think,  ten  minutes 
ago,  I'd  tell  any  human  being,"  said  I.  "  They've 
got  me  strapped  down  in  the  press.  At  ten 


224 


THE  DELUGE 


o'clock  in  the  morning  —  precisely  at  ten — • 
they're  going  to  put  on  the  screws."  I  laughed. 
"  I  guess  they'll  have  me  squeezed  pretty  dry 
before  noon." 

She  shivered. 

"  So,  you  see,"  I  continued,  "  I  don't  deserve 
any  credit  for  giving  you  up.  I  only  anticipate 
you  by  about  twenty- four  hours.  Mine's  a  death 
bed  repentance." 

"I'd  thought  of  that,"  said  she  reflectively. 
Presently  she  added:  "Then,  it  is  true."  And 
I  knew  Sammy  had  given  her  some  hint  that 
prepared  her  for  my  confession. 

"  Yes  —  I  can't  go  blustering  through  the 
matrimonial  market,"  replied  I.  "  I've  been 
thrown  out  I'm  a  beggar  at  the  gates." 

"  A  beggar  at  the  gates,"  she  murmured. 

I  got  up  and  stood  looking  down  at  her. 

"  Don't  pity  me !  "  I  said.  "  My  remark  was 
a  figure  of  speech.  I  want  no  alms.  I  wouldn't 
take  even  you  as  alms.  They'll  probably  get  me 
down,  and  stamp  the  life  out  of  me  —  nearly. 
But  not  quite  —  don't  you  lose  sight  of  that. 
They  can't  kill  me,  and  they  can't  tame  me.  I'll 
recover,  and  I'll  strew  the  Street  with  their  blood 
and  broken  bones." 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF         22^ 

-   ^' 

She  drew  in  her  breath  sharply. 

"  And  a  minute  ago  I  was  almost  liking  you !  " 
she  exclaimed. 

I  retreated  to  my  chair  and  gave  her  a  smile 
that  must  have  been  grim. 

"  Your  ideas  of  life  and  of  men  are  like  a  clois 
tered  nun's,"  said  I.  "  If  there  are  any  real  men 
among  your  acquaintances,  you  may  find  out 
some  day  that  they're  not  so  much  like  lapdogs 
as  they  pretend  —  and  that  you  wouldn't  like 
them,  if  they  were." 

"  What  —  just  what  —  happened  to  you  down 
town  to-day  —  after  you  left  me  ?  " 

"  A  friend  of  mine  has  been  luring  me  into  a 
trap  —  why,  I  can't  quite  fathom.  To-day  he 
sprang  the  trap  and  ran  away." 

"A  friend  of  yours?" 

"  The  man  we  were  talking  about  —  your  ex- 
god  —  Langdon." 

"  Langdon,"  she  repeated,  and  her  tone  told 
me  that  Sammy  knew  and  had  hinted  to  her  more 
than  I  suspected  him  of  knowing.  And,  with 
her  arms  still  folded,  she  paced  up  and  down  the 
room.  I  watched  her  slender  feet  in  pale  blue 
slippers  appear  and  disappear  —  first  one,  then 
the  other  —  at  the  edge  of  her  trailing  skirt. 


226  THE  DELUGE 

Presently  she  stopped  in  front  of  me.  Her  eyes 
were  gazing  past  me. 

"  You  are  sure  it  was  he  ?  "  she  asked. 

I  could  not  answer  immediately,  so  amazed  was 
I  at  her  expression.  I  had  been  regarding  her  as 
a  being  above  and  apart,  an  incarnation  of  youth 
and  innocence;  with  a  shock  it  now  came  to  me 
that  she  was  experienced,  intelligent,  that  she  un 
derstood  the  whole  of  life,  the  dark  as  fully  as  the 
light,  and  that  she  was  capable  to  live  it,  too.  It 
was  not  a  girl  that  was  questioning  me  there;  it 
was  a  woman. 

"  Yes  —  Langdon,"  I  replied.  "  But  I've  no 
quarrel  with  him.  My  reverse  is  nothing  but  the 
fortune  of  war,  I  assure  you,  when  I  see  him 
again,  I'll  be  as  friendly  as  ever  —  only  a  bit  less 
of  a  trusting  ass,  I  fancy.  We're  a  lot  of  free 
lances  down  in  the  Street.  We  fight  now  on  one 
side,  now  on  the  other.  We  change  sides  when 
ever  it's  expedient;  and  under  the  code  it's  not 
necessary  to  give  warning.  To-day,  before  I 
knew  he  was  the  assassin,  I  -had  made  my  plans 
to  try  to  save  myself  at  his  expense,  though  I  be 
lieved  him  to  be  the  best  friend  I  had  down  town. 
No  doubt  he's  got  some  good  reason  for  creeping 
up  on  me  in  the  dark." 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF         227 

"  You  are  sure  it  was  he?  "  she  repeated. 

"  He,  and  nobody  else,"  replied  I.  "  He  de 
cided  to  do  me  up  —  and  I  guess  he'll  succeed. 
He's  not  the  man  to  lift  his  gun  unless  he's  sure 
the  bird  will  fall." 

"  Do  you  really  not  care  any  more  than  you 
show  ?  "  she  asked.  "  Or  is  your  manner  only 
bravado  —  to  show  off  before  me?" 

"  I  don't  care  a  damn,  since  I'm  to  lose  you," 
said  I.  "  It'll  be  a  godsend  to  have  a  hard  row 
to  hoe  the  next  few  months  or  years." 

She  went  back  to  leaning  against  the  table,  her 
arms  folded  as  before.  I  saw  she  was  thinking 
out  something.  Finally  she  said : 

"  I  have  decided  not  to  accept  your  release." 

I  sprang  to  my  feet. 

"  Anita !  "  I  cried,  my  arms  stretched  toward 
her. 

But  she  only  looked  coldly  at  me,  folded  her 
arms  the  more  tightly  and  said: 

"  Do  not  misunderstand  me.  The  bargain  is 
the  same  as  before.  If  you  want  me  on  those 
terms,  I  must  —  give  myself." 

"Why?  "I  asked. 

A  faint  smile,  with  no  mirth  in  it,  drifted 
round  the  corners  of  her  mouth. 


228  THE  DELUGE 

"  An  impulse,"  she  said.  "  I  don't  quite  un 
derstand  it  myself.  An  impulse  from  —  from 

"  Her  eyes  and  her  thoughts  were  far 

away,  and  her  expression  was  the  one  that  made 
it  hardest  for  me  to  believe  she  was  a  child  of 
those  parents  of  hers.  "  An  impulse  from  a 
sense  of  justice  —  of  decency.  I  am  the  cause 
of  your  trouble,  and  I  daren't  be  a  coward  and  a 
cheat."  She  repeated  the  last  words.  "  A  cow 
ard  —  a  cheat !  We  —  I  —  have  taken  much 
from  you,  more  than  you  know.  It  must  be  re 
paid.  If  you  still  wish,  I  will  —  will  keep  to  my 
bargain." 

"  It's  true,  I'd  not  have  got  into  the  mess,"  said 
I,  "  if  I'd  been  attending  to  business  instead  of 
dangling  after  you.  But  you're  not  responsible 
for  that  folly." 

She  tried  to  speak  several  times,  before  she 
finally  suceeded  in  saying: 

"  It's  my  fault.     I  mustn't  shirk." 

I  studied  her,  but  I  couldn't  puzzle  her  out. 

"  I've  been  thinking  all  along  that  you  were 
simple  and  transparent,"  I  said.  "  Now,  I  see 
you  are  a  mystery.  .What  are  you  hiding  from 
me?" 

Her  smile  was  almost  coquettish  as  she  replied : 


ANITA  BEGINS  TO  BE  HERSELF          229 

"  When  a  woman  makes  a  mystery  of  herself 
to  a  man,  it's  for  the  man's  good." 

I  took  her  hand  —  almost  timidly. 

"  Anita,"  I  said,  "  do  you  still  —  dislike  me?  " 

"  I  do  not  —  and  shall  not  —  love  you,"  she 
answered.  "  But  you  are  — " 

"More  endurable?"  I  suggested,  as  she  hesi 
tated. 

"  Less  unendurable,"  she  said  with  raillery. 
Then  she  added,  "  Less  unendurable  than  profit 
ing  by  a  —  creeping  up  in  the  dark." 

I  thought  I  understood  her  better  than  she  un 
derstood  herself.  And  suddenly  my  passion 
melted  in  a  tenderness  I  would  have  said  was  as 
foreign  to  me  as  rain  to  a  desert.  I  noticed  that 
she  had  a  haggard  look.  "  You  are  very  tired, 
child,"  said  I.  "  Good  night.  I  am  a  different 
man  from  what  I  was  when  I  came  in  here." 

"  And  I  a  different  woman,"  said  she,  a  beauty 
shining  from  her  that  was  as  far  beyond  her 
physical  beauty  as  —  as  love  is  beyond  passion. 

"  A  nobler,  better  woman,"  I  exclaimed,  kiss 
ing  her  hand. 

She  snatched  it  away. 

"  If  you  only  knew !  "  she  cried.  "  It  seems  to 
me,  as  I  realize  what  sort  of  woman  I  am,  that  I 


230  THE  DELUGE 

am  almost  worthy  of  you!  "  And  she  blazed  a 
look  at  me  that  left  me  rooted  there,  astounded. 

But  I  went  down  the  avenue  with  a  light  heart. 
"  Just  like  a  woman,"  I  was  saying  to  myself 
cheerfully,  "  not  to  know  her  own  mind." 

A  few  blocks,  and  I  stopped  and  laughed  out 
right — >at  Langdon's  treachery,  at  my  own  cre 
dulity.  "  What  an  ass  I've  been  making  of  my 
self !  "  said  I  to  myself.  And  I  could  see  myself 
as  I  really  had  been  during  those  months  of  social 
struggling  —  an  ass,  braying  and  gamboling  in  a 
lion's  skin  —  to  impress  the  ladies! 

"  But  not  wholly  to  no  purpose,"  I  reflected, 
again  all  in  a  glow  at  thought  of  Anita. 


XIX 


'A  WINDFALL  FROM  "  GENTLEMAN  JOE  " 


I  went  to  my  rooms,  purposing  to  go  straight 
to  bed,  and  get  a  good  sleep.  I  did  make  a  start 
toward  undressing;  then  I  realized  that  I  should 
only  lie  awake  with  my  brain  wearing  me  out, 
spinning  crazy  thoughts  and  schemes  hour  after 
hour  —  for  my  imagination  rarely  lets  it  do  any 
effective  thinking  after  the  lights  are  out  and  the 
limitations  of  material  things  are  wiped  away  by 
the  darkness.  I  put  on  a  dressing-gown  and 
seated  myself  to  smoke  and  to  read. 

When  I  was  very  young,  new  to  New  York, 
in  with  the  Tenderloin  crowd  and  up  to  all  sorts 
of  pranks,  I  once  tried  opium  smoking.  I  don't 
think  I  ever  heard  of  anything  in  those  days 
without  giving  it  a  try.  Usually,  I  believe,  opium 
makes  the  smoker  ill  the  first  time  or  two;  but 
it  had  no  such  effect  on  me,  nor  did  it  fill  my 
mind  with  fantastic  visions.  On  the  contrary, 
it  made  everything  around  me  intensely  real  — 

23 1 


232  THE  DELUGE 

that  is,  it  enormously  stimulated  my  dominant 
characteristic  of  accurate  observation.  I  noticed 
the  slightest  details  —  such  things  as  the  slight 
difference  in  the  length  of  the  arms  of  the  China 
man  who  kept  the  "  joint,"  the  number  of  but 
tons  down  the  front  of  the  waist  of  the  girl  in 
the  bunk  opposite  mine,  across  the  dingy,  little, 
sweet-scented  room.  Nothing  escaped  me,  and 
also  I  was  conscious  of  each  passing  second,  or, 
rather,  fraction  of  a  second. 

As  a  rule,  time  and  events,  even  when  one  is 
quietest,  go  with  such  a  rush  that  one  notes  al 
most  nothing  of  what  is  passing.  The  opium 
seemed  to  compel  the  kaleidoscope  of  life  to  turn 
more  slowly;  in  fact,  it  sharpened  my  senses  so 
that  they  unconsciously  took  impressions  many 
times  more  quickly  and  easily  and  accurately.  As 
I  sat  there  that  night  after  leaving  Anita,  forcing 
my  mind  to  follow  the  printed  lines,  I  found  I 
was  in  exactly  the  state  in  which  I  had  been 
during  my  one  experiment  with  opium.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  as  many  days  as  there  had 
been  hours  must  have  elapsed  since  I  got  the 
news  of  the  raised  Textile  dividend.  Days  — 
yes,  weeks,  even  months,  of  thought  and  action 
seemed  to  have  been  compressed  into  those  six 


A  WINDFALL  FROM  "  GENTLEMAN  JOE  "   233 

hours  —  for,  as  I  sat  there,  it  was  not  yet  eleven 
o'clock. 

And  then  I  realized  that  this  notion  was  not  of 
the  moment,  but  that  I  had  been  as  if  under  the 
influence  of  some  powerful  nerve  stimulant  since 
my  brain  began  to  recover  from  the  shock  of  that 
thunderbolt.  Only,  where  nerve  stimulants 
often  make  the  mind  passive  and  disinclined  to 
take  part  in  the  drama  so  vividly  enacting  before 
it,  this  opening  of  my  reservoirs  of  reserve  nerv 
ous  energy  had  multiplied  my  power  to  act  as 
well  as  my  power  to  observe.  "  I  wonder  how 
long  it  will  last,"  thought  I.  And  it  made  me 
uneasy,  this  unnatural  alertness,  unaccompanied 
by  any  feverishness  or  sense  of  strain.  "  Is  this 
the  way  madness  begins  ?  " 

I  dressed  myself  again  and  went  out  —  went 
up  to  Joe  Healey's  gambling  place  in  Forty- 
fourth  Street.  Most  of  the  well-known  gamblers 
up  town,  as  well  as  their  "  respectable "  down 
town  fellow  members  of  the  fraternity,  were  old 
acquaintances  of  mine;  Joe  Healey  was  as  close 
a  friend  as  I  had.  He  had  great  fame  for  square 
ness —  and,  in  a  sense,  deserved  it.  With  his 
fellow  gamblers  he  was  straight  as  a  string  at 
all  times  —  to  be  otherwise  would  ha,ve  meant 


234  THE  DELUGE 

that  when  he  went  broke  he  would  stay  broke, 
because  none  of  the  fraternity  would  "  stake  " 
him.  But  with  his  patrons  —  being  regarded  by 
them  as  a  pariah,  he  acted  toward  them  like  a 
pariah  —  a  prudent  pariah.  He  fooled  them  with 
a  frank  show  of  gentlemanliness,  of  honesty  to 
his  own  hurt;  under  that  cover  he  fleeced  them 
well,  but  always  judiciously. 

That  night,  I  recall,  Joe's  guests  were  several 
young  fellows  of  the  fashionable  set,  rich  men's 
sons  and  their  parasites,  a  few  of  the  big  down 
town  operators  who  hadn't  yet  got  hipped  on 
"respectability"  —  they  playing  poker  in  a  pri 
vate  room  —  and  a  couple  of  flush-faced,  flush- 
pursed  chaps  from  out  of  town,  for  whom  one  of 
Joe's  men  was  dealing  faro  from  what  looked 
to  my  experienced  and  accurate  eye  like  a 
"  brace  "  box. 

Joe,  very  elegant,  too  elegant  in  fact,  in  even 
ing  dress,  was  showing  a  new  piece  of  statuary  to 
the  oldest  son  of  Melville,  of  the  National  Indus 
trial  Bank.  Joe  knew  a  little  something  about 
art  —  he  was  much  like  the  art  dealers  who,  as 
a  matter  of  business,  learn  the  difference  be 
tween  good  things  and  bad,  but  in  their  hearts 
wonder  and  laugh  at  people  willing  to  part  with 


A  WINDFALL  FROM  "  GENTLEMAN  JOE  "  235 

large  sums  of  money  for  a  little  paint  or  marble 
or  the  like. 

As  soon  as  Joe  thought  he  had  sufficiently  im 
pressed  young  Melville,  he  drifted  him  to  a  rou 
lette  table,  left  him  there  and  joined  me. 

"  Come  to  my  office/'  said  he.  "  I  want  to  see 
you." 

He  led  the  way  down  the  richly-carpeted  mar 
ble  stairway  as  far  as  the  landing  at  the  turn. 
There,  on  a  sort  of  mezzanine,  he  had  a  gorgeous 
little  suite.  The  principal  object  in  the  sitting- 
room  or  office  was  a  huge  safe.  He  closed  and 
locked  the  outside  door  behind  us. 

"Take  a  seat,"  said  he.  "You'll  like  the 
cigars  in  the  second  box  on  my  desk  —  the  long 
one."  And  he  began  turning  the  combination 
lock.  "  You  haven't  dropped  in  on  us  for  the 
past  three  or  four  months,"  he  went  on. 

"  No,"  said  I,  getting  a  great  deal  of  pleasure 
out  of  seeing  again,  and  thus  intimately,  his 
round,  ruddy  face  —  like  a  yachtman's,  not  like 
a  drinker's  —  and  his  shifty,  laughing  brown 
eyes.  u  The  game  down  town  has  given  me 
enough  excitement  I  haven't  had  to  continue 
it  up  town  to  keep  my  hand  in." 

In  fact,  I  had,  as  I  have  already  said,  been 


236  THE  DELUGE 

breaking  off  with  my  former  friends  because, 
while  many  of  the  most  reputable  and  reliable 
financiers  down  town  go  in  for  high  play  occa 
sionally  at  the  gambling  houses,  it  isn't  wise  for 
the  man  trying  to  establish  himself  as  a  strictly 
legitimate  financier.  I  had  been  playing  as  much 
as  ever,  but  only  in  games  in  my  own  rooms  and 
at  the  rooms  of  other  bankers,  brokers  and  com 
mercial  leaders.  The  passion  for  high  play  is  a 
craving  that  gnaws  at  a  man  all  the  time,  and 
he  must  always  be  feeding  it  one  way  or  another. 

"  I've  noticed  that  you  are  getting  too  swell 
to  patronize  us  fellows,"  said  he,  his  shrewd 
smile  showing  that  my  polite  excuse  had  not 
fooled  him.  "Well,  Matt,  you're  right  —  you 
always  did  have  good  sound  sense  and  a  steady 
eye  for  the  main  chance.  I  used  to  think  the 
women'd  ruin  you,  they  were  so  crazy  about  that 
handsome  mug  and  figure  of  yours.  But  when 
I  saw  you  knew  exactly  when  to  let  go,  I  knew 
nothing  could  stop  you." 

By  this  time  he  had  the  safe  open,  disclosing 
several  compartments  and  a  small,  inside  safe. 
He  worked  away  at  the  second  combination  lock, 
and  presently  exposed  the  interior  of  the  little 
safe.  It  was  filled  with  a  great  roll  of  bills.  He 


A  WINDFALL  FROM  "  GENTLEMAN  JOE  "  237 

pried  this  out,  brought  it  over  to  the  desk  and 
began  wrapping  it  up.  "I  want  you  to  take  this 
with  you  when  you  go,"  said  he.  "  I've  made 
several  big  killings  lately,  and  I'm  going  to  get 
you  to  invest  the  proceeds." 

"  I  can't  take  that  big  bundle  along  with  me, 
Joe,"  said  I.  "  Besides,  it  ain't  safe.  Put  it  in 
the  bank  and  send  me  a  check." 

"  Not  on  your  life,"  replied  Healey  with  a 
laugh.  "  The  suckers  we  trimmed  gave  checks, 
and  I  turned  'em  into  cash  as  soon  as  the  banks 
opened.  I  wasn't  any  too  spry,  either.  Two  of 
the  damned  sneaks  consulted  lawyers  as  soon  as 
they  sobered  off,  and  tried  to  stop  payment  on 
their  checks.  They're  threatening  proceedings. 
You  must  take  the  dough  away  with  you,  and  I 
don't  want  a  receipt." 

"  Trimming  suckers,  eh  ?  "  said  I,  not  able  to 
decide  what  to  do. 

"Their  fathers  stole  it  from  the  public,"  he 
explained.  "  They're  drunken  little  snobs,  not 
fit  to  have  money.  Fm  doing  a  public  service  by 
relieving  them  of  it.  If  I'd  'a'  got  more,  I'd  feel 
that  much  more" — he  vented  his  light,  cool, 
sarcastic  laugh  — "  more  patriotic." 

"  I  can't  take  it,"  said  I,  feeling  that,  in  my 


THE  DELUGE 

present  condition,  to  take  it  would  be  very  near 
to  betraying  the  confidence  of  my  old  friend. 

"  They  lost  it  in  a  straight  game,"  he  hastened 
to  assure  me.  "  I  haven't  had  a  '  brace '  box  or 
crooked  wheel  for  four  years."  .This  with  a  sober 
face  and  a  twinkle  in  his  eye.  "  But  even  if  I 
had  helped  chance  to  do  the  good  work  of  teach 
ing  them  to  take  care  of  their  money,  you'd  not 
refuse  me.  Up  town  and  down  town,  and  all 
over  the  place,  what's  business,  when  you  come 
to  look  at  it  sensibly,  but  trading  in  stolen  goods  ? 
Do  you  know  a  man  who  could  honestly  earn 
more  than  ten  or  twenty  thousand  a  year  —  good 
clean  money  by  good  clean  work  ?  " 

"  Oh,  for  that  matter,  your  money's  as  clean 
as  anybody's/'  said  I.  "  But,  you  know,  I'm  a 
speculator,  Joe.  I  have  my  downs  —  and  this 
happens  to  be  a  stormy  time  for  me.  If  I  take 
your  money,  I  mayn't  be  able  to  account  for  it  or 
even  to  pay  dividends  on  it  for  —  maybe  a  year 


or  so." 


"  It's  all  right,  old  man.  I'll  never  give  it  a 
thought  till  you  remind  me  of  it.  Use  it  as  you'd 
use  your  own.  I've  got  to  put  it  behind  some 
body's  luck  —  why  not  yours  ?  " 

He  finished  doing  up  the  package,   then  he 


A  WINDFALL  FROM  "  GENTLEMAN  JOE  "  239 

seated  himself,  and  we  both  looked  at  it  through 
the  smoke  of  our  cigars. 

"  It's  just  as  easy  to  deal  in  big  sums  as  in  lit 
tle,  in  large  matters  as  in  small,  isn't  it,  Joe,'* 
said  I,  "  once  one  gets  in  the  way  of  it  ?  " 

"  Do  you  remember  —  away  back  there  —  the 
morning,"  he  asked  musingly  — "  the  last  morn 
ing —  you  and  I  got  up  from  the  straw  in  the 
stables  over  at  Jerome  Park  —  the  stables  they 
let  us  sleep  in?" 

"  And  went  out  in  the  dawn  to  roost  on  the 
rails  and  spy  on  the  speed  trials  of  old  Revell's 
horses?" 

"  Exactly,"  said  Joe,  and  we  looked  at  each 
other  and  laughed.  "  We  in  rags  —  gosh,  how 
chilly  it  was  that  morning!  Do  you  remember 
what  we  talked  about  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  I,  though  I  did. 

"  I  was  proposing  to  turn  a  crooked  trick  — 
and  you  wouldn't  have  it.  You  persuaded  me  to 
keep  straight,  Matt  I've  never  forgotten  it. 
You  kept  me  straight  —  showed  me  what  a  damn 
fool  a  man  was  to  load  himself  down  with  a  petty 
larceny  record.  You  made  a  man  of  me,  Matt. 
And  then  those  good  looks  of  yours  caught  the 
eye  of  that  bookmaker's  girl,  and  he  gave  you  a 


240 


THE  DELUGE 


job  at  writing  sheet —  and  you  worked  me  in 
-with  you." 

So  long  ago  it  seemed,  yet  near  and  real,  too, 
as  I  sat  there,  conscious  of  every  sound  and  mo 
tion,  even  of  the  fantastic  shapes  taken  by  our 
upcurling  smoke.  How  far  I  was  from  the  "  rail 
bird"  of  those  happy-go-lucky  years,  when  a 
meal  meant  quite  as  much  to  me  as  does  a  million 
now  —  how  far  from  all  that,  yet  how  near,  too. 
For  was  I  not  still  facing  life  with  the  same  care 
less  courage,  forgetting  each  yesterday  in  the 
eager  excitement  of  each  new  day  with  its  new 
deal?  We  went  on  in  our  reminiscences  for  a 
while;  then,  as  Joe  had  a  little  work  to  do,  I 
drifted  out  into  the  house,  took  a  bite  of  supper 
with  young  Melville,  had  a  little  go  at  the  tiger, 
and  toward  five  in  the  clear  June  morning 
emerged  into  the  broad  day  of  the  streets,  with 
the  precious  bundle  under  my  arms  and  a  five 
hundred-dollar  bill  in  my  waistcoat  pocket. 

"  Give  my  win  to  me  in  a  single  bill,"  I  said 
to  the  banker,  "and  blow  yourself  off  with  the 
change." 

Joe  walked  down  the  street  with  me  —  for 
companionship  and  a  little  air  before  turning  in, 
he  said,  but  I  imagine  a  desire  to  keep  his  eye  on 


A  WINDFALL  FROM  "GENTLEMAN  JOE"     241 

his  treasure  a  while  longer  had  something  to  do 
with  his  taking  that  early  morning  stroll.  We 
passed  several  of  those  forlorn  figures  that  hurry 
through  the  slowly-awakening  streets  to  bed  or  to 
work.  Finally,  there  came  by  an  old,  old  woman 
—  a  scrubwoman,  I  guess,  on  her  way  home  from 
cleaning  some  office  building.  Beside  her  was 
a  thin  little  boy,  hopping  along  on  a  crutch.  I 
stopped  them. 

"  Hold  out  your  hand/'  said  I  to  the  boy,  and 
he  did.  I  laid  the  five  hundred-dollar  bill  in  it. 
"  Now,  shut  your  fingers  tight  over  that,"  said  I, 
"  and  don't  open  them  till  you  get  home.  Then 
tell  your  mother  to  do  what  she  likes  with  it." 
And  we  left  them  gaping  after  us,  speechless  be 
fore  this  fairy  story  come  true. 

"  You  must  be  looking  hard  for  luck  to-day," 
said  Joe,  who  understood  this  transaction  where 
another  might  have  thought  it  a  showy  and  not 
very  wise  charity.  "  They'll  stop  in  at  the  church 
and  pray  for  you,  and  burn  a  candle." 

"  I  hope  so,"  said  I,  "  for  God  knows  I  need 
it." 


XX 

'A  BREATHING  SPELL 

Langdon,  after  several  years  of  effort,  had 
got  recognition  for  Textile  in  London,  but  that 
was  about  all.  He  hadn't  succeeded  in  unload 
ing  any  great  amount  of  it  on  the  English.  So 
it  was  rather  because  I  neglected  nothing  than 
because  I  was  hopeful  of  results  that  I  had  made 
a  point  of  telegraphing  to  London  news  of  my 
proposed  suit.  The  result  was  a  little  trading 
in  Textiles  over  there  and  a  slight  decline  in  the 
price.  This  fact  was  telegraphed  to  all  the  finan 
cial  centers  on  this  side  of  the  water,  and  rein 
forced  the  impression  my  lawyers'  announcement 
and  my  own  "  bear  "  letter  were  making. 

Still,  this  was  nothing,  or  next  to  it.  .What 
could  I  hope  to  avail  against  Langdon's  agents 
with  almost  unlimited  capital,  putting  their  whole 
energy  under  the  stock  to  raise  it?  In  the  same 
newspapers  that  published  my  bear  attack,  in  the 
same  columns  and  under  the  same  head-lines, 
242 


A  BREATHING  SPELL 


243 


were  official  denials  from  the  Textile  Trust  and 
the  figures  of  enormous  increase  of  business  as 
proof  positive  that  the  denials  were  honest.  If 
the  public  had  not  been  burned  so  many  times 
by  "  industrials/'  if  it  had  not  learned  by  bitter 
experience  that  practically  none  of  the  leaders 
of  finance  and  industry  were  above  lying  to  make 
or  save  a  few  dollars,  if  Textiles  had  not  been 
manipulated  so  often,  first  by  Dumont  and  since 
his  death  by  his  brother-in-law  and  successor,  this 
suave  and  cynical  Langdon,  my  desperate  attack 
would  have  been  without  effect.  As  it  was 

Four  months  before,  in  the  same  situation,  had 
I  seen  Textiles  stagger  as  they  staggered  in  the 
first  hour  of  business  on  the  Stock  Exchange 
that  morning,  I'd  have  sounded  the  charge,  clap 
ped  spurs  to  my  charger,  and  borne  down  upon 
them.  But  —  I  had  my  new-born  yearning  for 
"  respectability";  I  had  my  new-born  squeamish- 
ness,  which  led  me  to  fear  risking  Bob  Corey  and 
his  bank  and  the  money  of  my  old  friend  Healey ; 
finally,  there  was  Anita  —  the  longing  for  her 
that  made  me  prefer  a  narrow  and  uncertain  foot 
hold  to  the  bold  leap  that  would  land  me  either  in 
wealth  and  power  or  in  the  bottomless  abyss. 

Instead  of  continuing  to  sell  Textiles,  I  cov- 


244  THE  DELUGE 

ered  as  far  as  I  could;  and  I  bought  so  eagerly 
and  so  heavily  that,  more  than  Langdon's  corps 
of  rocketers,  I  was  responsible  for  the  stock's  rally 
and  start  upward.  When  I  say  "  eagerly  "  and 
"  heavily,"  I  do  not  mean  that  I  acted  openly 
or  without  regard  to  common  sense.  I  mean  sim 
ply  that  I  made  no  attempt  to  back  up  my  fol 
lowers  in  the  selling  campaign  I  had  urged  them 
into;  on  the  contrary,  I  bought  as  they  sold. 
That  does  not  sound  well,  and  it  is  no  better  than 
it  sounds.  I  shall  not  dispute  with  any  one  who 
finds  this  action  of  mine  a  betrayal  of  my  clients 
to  save  myself.  All  I  shall  say  is  that  it  was 
business,  that  in  such  extreme  and  dire  compul 
sion  as  was  mine,  it  was  —  and  is  —  right  under 
the  code,  the  private  and  real  Wall  Street  code. 
You  can  imagine  the  confused  mass  of  trans 
actions  in  which  I  was  involved  before  the  Stock 
Exchange  had  been  open  long.  There  was  the 
stock  we  had  been  able  to  buy  or  get  options  on 
at  various  prices,  between  the  closing  of  the  Ex 
change  the  previous  day  and  that  morning's  open 
ing  —  stock  from  all  parts  of  this  country  and  in 
England.  There  was  the  stock  I  had  been  buy 
ing  since  the  Exchange  opened  —  buying  at  fig 
ures  ranging  from  one-eighth  above  last  night's 


A  BREATHING  SPELL  24$ 

closing  price  to  fourteen  points  above  it.  And, 
on  the  debit  side,  there  were  the  "  short "  trans 
actions  extending  over  a  period  of  nearly  two 
months  — "  sellings  "  of  blocks  large  and  small 
at  a  hundred  different  prices. 

An  inextricable  tangle,  you  will  say,  one  it 
would  be  impossible  for  a  man  to  unravel  quickly 
and  in  the  frantic  chaos  of  a  wild  Stock  Exchange 
day.  Yet  the  influence  of  the  mysterious  state  of 
my  nerves,  which  I  have  described  above,  was 
so  marvelous  that,  incredible  though  it  seems, 
the  moment  the  Exchange  closed,  I  knew  exactly, 
where  I  stood. 

Like  a  mechanical  lightning  calculator,  my 
mind  threw  up  before  me  the  net  result  of  these 
selling  and  buying  transactions.  Textile  Com 
mon  closed  eighteen  points  above  the  closing  quo 
tation  of  the  previous  day;  if  Langdon's  brother 
had  not  been  just  a  little  indiscreet,  I  should  have 
been  as  hopeless  a  bankrupt  in  reputation  and 
in  fortune  as  ever  was  ripped  up  by  the  bulls  of 
Wall  Street. 

As  it  was,  I  believed  that,  by  keeping  a  bold 
front,  I  might  extricate  and  free  myself  when 
the  Coal  reorganization  was  announced.  The 
rise  of  Coal  stocks  would  square  my  debts  —  and, 


246  THE  DELUGE 

as  I  was  apparently  untouched  by  the  Textile 
flurry,  so  far  as  even  Ball,  my  nominal  partner 
and  chief  lieutenant,  knew,  I  need  not  fear 
pressure  from  creditors  that  I  could  not  with 
stand. 

I  could  not  breathe  freely,  but  I  could  breathe. 


XXI 

MOST  UNLADYLIKE 

When  I  saw  I  was  to  have  a  respite  of  a  month 
or  so,  I  went  over  to  the  National  Industrial  Bank 
with  Healey's  roll,  which  my  tellers  had  counted 
and  prepared  for  deposit.  I  finished  my  business 
with  the  receiving  teller  of  the  National  Indus 
trial,  and  dropped  in  on  my  friend  Lewis,  the  first 
vice-president.  I  did  not  need  to  pretend  cool 
ness  and  confidence;  my  nerves  were  still  in  that 
curious  state  of  tranquil  exhilaration,  and  I  felt 
master  of  myself  and  of  the  situation.  Just  as  I 
was  leaving,  in  came  Tom  Langdon  with  Sam 
Ellersly. 

Tom's  face  was  a  laughable  exhibit  of  embar 
rassment.  Sam  —  really,  I  felt  sorry  for  him. 
There  was  no  reason  on  earth  why  he  shouldn't 
be  with  Tom  Langdon;  yet  he  acted  as  if  I  had 
caught  him  "  with  the  goods  on  him."  He  stam 
mered  and  stuttered,  clasped  my  hand  eagerly, 
dropped  it  as  if  it  had  stung  him;  he  jerked  out 
247 


248  THE  DELUGE 

a  string  of  hysterical  nonsense,  ending  with  a 
laugh  so  crazy  that  the  sound  of  it  disconcerted 
him.  Drink  was  the  explanation  that  drifted 
through  my  mind;  but  in  fact  I  thought  little 
about  it,  so  full  was  I  of  other  matters. 

"When  is  your  brother  returning?"  said  I  to 
Tom. 

"  On  the  next  steamer,  I  believe,"  he  replied. 
"  He  went  only  for  the  rest  and  the  bath  of  sea 
air."  With  an  effort  he  collected  himself,  drew 
me  aside  and  said :  "  I  owe  you  an  apology,  Mr. 
Blacklock.  I  went  to  the  steamer  with  Mowbray 
to  see  him  off,  and  he  asked  me  to  tell  you  about 
our  new  dividend  rate  —  though  it  was  not  to  be 
made  public  for  some  time.  Anyhow,  he  told 
me  to  go  straight  to  you  —  and  I  —  frankly,  I 
forgot  it."  Then,  with  the  winning,  candid 
Langdon  smile,  he  added,  ingenuously :  "  The 
best  excuse  in  the  world  —  yet  the  one  nobody 
ever  accepts." 

"  No  apology  necessary,"  said  I  with  the  ut 
most  good  nature.  "  I've  no  personal  interest  in 
Textile.  My  house  deals  on  commission  only, 
you  know  —  never  on  margins  for  myself.  I'm 
a  banker  and  broker,  not  a  gambler.  Some  of 
our  customers  were  alarmed  by  the  news  of  the 


MOST  UNLADYLIKE  249 

big  increase,  and  insisted  on  bringing  suit  to  stop 
it.  But  I'm  going  to  urge  them  now  to  let  the 
matter  drop." 

Tom  tried  to  look  natural,  and  as  he  is  an  apt 
pupil  of  his  brother's,  he  succeeded  fairly  well. 
His  glance,  however,  wouldn't  fix  steadily  on  my 
gaze,  but  circled  round  and  round  it  like  a  bat  at 
an  electric  light.  "  To  tell  you  the  truth,"  said 
he,  "  I'm  extremely  nervous  as  to  what  my  broth 
er  will  say  —  and  do  —  to  me,  when  I  tell  him. 
I  hope  no  harm  came  to  you  through  my  forget- 
fulness." 

"  None  in  the  world,"  I  assured  him.  Then  I 
turned  on  Sam.  "  What  are  you  doing  down 
town  to-day  ?  "  said  I.  "  Are  you  on  your  way 
to  see  me?" 

He  flushed  with  angry  shame,  reading  an  in 
sinuation  into  my  careless  remark,  when  I  had  not 
the  remotest  intention  of  reminding  him  that 
his  customary  object  in  coming  down  town  was 
to  play  the  parasite  and  the  sponge  at  my  expense. 
I  ought  to  have  guessed  at  once  that  there  was 
some  good  reason  for  his  recovery  of  his  refined, 
high-bred,  gentlemanly  super-sensibilities;  but  I 
was  not  in  the  mood  to  analyze  trifles,  though 
my  nerves  were  taking  careful  record  of  them. 


250  THE  DELUGE 

"  Oh,  I  was  just  calling  on  Tom,"  he  replied 
rather  haughtily. 

Then  Melville  himself  came  in,  brushing  back 
his  white  tufted  burnsides  and  licking  his  lips  and 
blinking  his  eyes  —  looking  for  all  the  world  like 
a  cat  at  its  toilet 

"Oh!  ah!  Blacklock!"  he  exclaimed,  with 
purring  cordiality  —  and  I  knew  he  had  heard  of 
the  big  deposit  I  was  making.  "  Come  into  my 
office  on  your  way  out  —  nothing  especial  —  only 
because  it's  always  a  pleasure  to  talk  with  you." 

I  saw  that  his  effusive  friendliness  confirmed 
Tom  Langdon's  fear  that  I  had  escaped  from  his 
brother's  toils.  He  stared  sullenly  at  the  carpet 
until  he  caught  me  looking  at  him  with  twin 
kling  eyes.  He  made  a  valiant  effort  to  return 
my  smile  and  succeeded  in  twisting  his  face  into  a 
knot  that  seemed  to  hurt  him  as  much  as  it 
amused  me. 

"  Well,  good-by,  Tom/'  said  I.  "  Give  my  re 
gards  to  your  brother  when  he  lands,  and  tell 
him  his  going  away  was  a  mistake.  A  man  can't 
afford  to  trust  his  important  business  to  under 
strappers."  This  with  a  face  free  from  any  sug 
gestion  of  intending  a  shot  at  him.  Then  to 
Sam :  "  See  you  to-night,  old  man,"  and  I  went 


MOST  UNLADYLIKE  251 

away,  leaving  Lewis  looking  from  one  to  the 
other  as  if  he  felt  that  there  was  dynamite  about, 
but  couldn't  locate  it.  I  stopped  with  Melville  to 
talk  Coal  for  a  few  minutes  —  at  my  ease,  and  the 
last  man  on  earth  to  be  suspected  of  hanging  by 
the  crook  of  one  finger  from  the  edge  of  the  preci 
pice. 

I  rang  the  Ellerslys'  bell  at  half-past  nine  that 
evening.  The  butler  faced  me  with  eyes  not 
down,  as  they  should  have  been,  but  on  mine, 
and  full  of  the  servile  insolence  to  which  he  had 
been  prompted  by  what  he  had  overheard  in  the 
family. 

"  Not  at  home,  sir,"  he  said,  though  I  had  not 
spoken. 

I  was  preoccupied  and  not  expecting  that  state 
ment  ;  neither  had  I  skill,  nor  desire  to  acquire 
skill,  in  reading  family  barometers  in  the  faces 
of  servants.  So,  I  was  for  brushing  past  him 
and  entering  where  I  felt  I  had  as  much  right  as 
in  my  own  places.  He  barred  the  way. 

"  Beg  pardon,  sir.  Mrs.  Ellersly  instructed 
me  to  say  no  one  was  at  home." 

I  halted,  but  only  like  an  oncoming  bear  at  the 
prick  of  an  arrow. 

"What  the  hell  does  this  mean?  "  I  exclaimed, 


252  THE  DELUGE 

•waving  him  aside.  At  that  instant  Anita  appeared 
from  the  little  reception-room  a  few  feet  away. 

"  Oh  —  come  in !  "  she  said  cordially.  "  I  was 
expecting  you.  Burroughs,  please  take  Mr. 
Blacklock's  hat." 

I  followed  her  into  the  reception-room,  think 
ing  the  butler  had  made  some  sort  of  mistake. 

"  How  did  you  come  out  ?  "  she  asked  eagerly, 
facing  me.  "  You  look  your  natural  self  —  not 
tired  or  worried  —  so  it  must  have  been  not  so 
bad  as  you  feared." 

"If  our  friend  Langdon  hadn't  slipped  away, 
I  might  not  look  and  feel  so  comfortable,"  said  I. 
"  His  brother  blundered,  and  there  was  no' one  to 
checkmate  my  moves."  She  seemed  nearer  to 
me,  more  in  sympathy  with  me  than  ever  before. 

"  I  can't  tell  you  how  glad  I  am !  " 

Her  eyes  were  wide  and  bright,  as  from  some 
great  excitement,  and  her  color  was  high.  Once 
my  attention  was  on  it,  I  knew  instantly  that  only 
some  extraordinary  upheaval  in  that  household 
could  have  produced  the  fever  that  was  blazing 
in  her.  Never  had  I  seen  her  in  any  such  mood 
as  this. 

"What  is  it?"  I  asked.  "What  has  hap 
pened?" 


MOST  UNLADYLIKE  253 

"  If  anything  disagreeable  should  be  said  or 
done  this  evening  here,"  she  said,  "  I  want  you 
to  promise  me  that  you'll  restrain  yourself,  and 
not  say  or  do  any  of  those  things  that  make  me 
—  that  jar  on  me.  You  understand  ?  " 

"  I  am  always  myself,"  replied  I.  "  I  can't  be 
anybody  else." 

"  But  you  are  —  several  different  kinds  of 
self,"  she  insisted.  "And  please  —  this  evening 
don't  be  that  kind.  It's  coming  into  your  eyes 
and  chin  now." 

I  had  lifted  my  head  and  looked  round,  prob 
ably  much  like  the  leader  of  a  horned  herd  at  the 
scent  of  danger. 

"Is  this  better?"  said  I,  trying  to  look  the 
thoughts  I  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  to  the  fore 
whenever  my  eyes  were  on  her. 

Her  smile  rewarded  me.  But  it  disappeared, 
gave  place  to  a  look  of  nervous  alarm,  of  terror 
even,  at  the  rustling,  or,  rather,  bustling,  of 
skirts  in  the  hall  —  there  was  war  in  the  very 
sound,  and  I  felt  it.  Mrs.  Ellersly  appeared, 
bearing  her  husband  as  a  dejected  trailer  invisibly 
but  firmly  coupled.  She  acknowledged  my  salu 
tation  with  a  stiff-necked  nod,  ignored  my  ex 
tended  hand.  I  saw  that  she  wished  to  impress 


THE  DELUGE 

upon  me  that  she  was  a  very  grand  lady  indeed ; 
but,  while  my  ideas  of  what  constitutes  a  lady 
were  at  that  time  somewhat  befogged  by  my 
snobbishness,  she  failed  dismally.  She  looked 
just  what  she  was  —  a  mean,  bad-tempered 
woman,  in  a  towering  rage. 

"  You  have  forced  me,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  said 
she,  and  then  I  knew  for  just  what  purpose  that 
voice  of  hers  was  best  adapted  — "  to  say  to  you 
what  I  should  have  preferred  to  write.  Mr. 
Ellersly  has  had  brought  to  his  ears  matters  in 
connection  with  your  private  life  that  make  it 
imperative  that  you  discontinue  your  calls  here." 

"My  private  life,  ma'am?"  I  repeated.  "I 
was  not  aware  that  I  had  a  private  life." 

"  Anita,  leave  us  alone  with  Mr.  Blacklock," 
commanded  her  mother. 

The  girl  hesitated,  bent  her  head,  and  with  a 
cowed  look  went  slowly  toward  the  door.  There 
she  paused,  and,  with  what  seemed  a  great  effort, 
lifted  her  head  and  gazed  at  me.  How  I  ever 
came  rightly  to  interpret  her  look  I  don't  know, 
but  I  said :  "  Miss  Ellersly,  I've  the  right  to  in 
sist  that  you  stay."  I  saw  she  was  going  to  obey 
me,  and  before  Mrs.  Ellersly  could  repeat  her 
order  I  said :  "  Now,  madam,  if  any  one  accuses 


MOST  UNLADYLIKE 

me  of  having  done  anything  that  would  cause  you 
to  exclude  a  man  from  your  house,  I  am  ready  for 
the  liar  and  his  lie." 

As  I  spoke  I  was  searching  the  weak,  bad  old 
face  of  her  husband  for  an  explanation.  Their 
pretense  of  outraged  morality  I  rejected  at  once 

—  it  was  absurd.     Neither  up  town  nor  down, 
nor  anywhere  else,  had  I  done  anything  that  any 
one  could  regard  as  a  breach  of  the  code  of  a  man 
of  the  world.     Then,  reasoned  I,  they  must  have 
found  some  one  else  to  help  them  out  of  their 
financial  troubles  —  some  one  who,  perhaps,  has 
made  this  insult  to  me  the  price,  or  part  of  the 
price,  of  his  generosity.     Who?     Who  hates  me? 
In  instant  answer,  up  before  my  mind  flashed  a 
picture  of  Tom  Langdon  and  Sam  Ellersly  arm 
in  arm  entering  Lewis'  office.     Tom  Langdon 
wishes  to  marry  her;  and  her  parents  wish  it, 
too ;  he  is  the  man  she  was  confessing  to  me  about 

—  these  were  my  swift  conclusions. 

"  We  do  not  care  to  discuss  the  matter,  sir/' 
Mrs.  Ellersly  was  replying,  her  tone  indicating 
that  it  was  not  fit  to  discuss.  And  this  was  the 
woman  I  had  hardly  been  able  to  treat  civilly,  so 
nauseating  were  her  fawnings  and  flatterings ! 

"  So ! "  I  said,  ignoring  her  and  opening  my 


256  THE  DELUGE 

batteries  full  upon  the  old  man.  "  You  are  tak 
ing  orders  from  Mowbray  Langdon  now. 
.Why?" 

As  I  spoke,  I  was  conscious  that  there  had  been 
some  change  in  Anita.  I  looked  at  her.  With 
startled  eyes  and  lips  apart,  she  was  advancing 
toward  me. 

"  Anita,  leave  the  room ! "  cried  Mrs.  Ellersly 
harshly,  panic  under  the  command  in  her  tones. 

I  felt  rather  than  saw  my  advantage,  and 
pressed  it. 

"  You  see  what  they  are  doing,  Miss  Ellersly," 
said  I. 

She  passed  her  hands  over  her  eyes,  let  her 
face  appear  again.  In  it  there  was  an  energy 
of  repulsion  that  ought  to  have  seemed  exagger 
ated  to  me  then,  knowing  really  nothing  of  the 
true  situation.  "I  understand  now!"  said  she. 
"Oh  —  it  is  —  loathsome!"  And  her  eyes 
blazed  upon  her  mother. 

"  Loathsome,"  I  echoed,  dashing  at  my  oppor 
tunity.  "If  you  are  not  merely  a  chattel  and  a 
decoy,  if  there  is  any  womanhood,  any  self-re 
spect  in  you,  you  will  keep  faith  with'  me." 

"Anita!"  cried  Mrs.  Ellersly.  "Go  to  your 
room ! " 


MOST  UNLADYLIKE  257 

I  had,  once  or  twice  before,  heard  a  tone  as  re 
pulsive —  a  female  dive-keeper  hectoring  her 
wretched  white  slaves.  I  looked  at  Anita.  I  ex 
pected  to  see  her  erect,  defiant.  Instead,  she  was 
again  wearing  that  cowed  look. 

"  Don't  judge  me  too  harshly,"  she  said  plead 
ingly  to  me.  "I  know  what  is  right  and  decent 
— •  God  planted  that  too  deep  in  me  for  them  to 
be  able  to  uproot  it.  But  —  oh,  they  have  broken 
my  will !  They  have  broken  my  will !  They 
have  made  me  a  coward,  a  thing ! "  And  she 
hid  her  face  in  her  hands  and  sobbed. 

Mrs.  Ellersly  was  about  to  speak.  I  could  not 
offer  better  proof  of  my  own  strength  of  will  than 
the  fact  that  I,  with  a  look  and  a  gesture,  put 
her  down.  Then  I  said  to  the  girl : 

"  You  must  choose  now !  Woman  or  thing  — 
which  shall  it  be?  If  it  is  woman,  then  you  have 
me  behind  you  and  in  front  of  you  and  around 
you.  If  it  is  thing  —  God  have  mercy  on  you ! 
Your  self-respect,  your  pride  are  gone  —  for  ever. 
You  will  be  like  the  carpet  under  his  feet  to  the 
man  whose  creature  you  become." 

She  came  and  stood  by  me,  with  her  back  to 
them. 

"If  you  will  take  me  with  you  now,"  she  said, 


358  THE  DELUGE 

"  I  will  go.  If  I  delay,  I  am  lost.  I  shall  not 
have  the  courage.  And  I  am  sick,  sick  to  death 
of  this  life  here,  of  this  hideous  wait  for  the  high 
est  bidder." 

Her  voice  gained  strength  and  her  manner 
courage  as  she  spoke;  at  the  end  she  was  meet 
ing  her  mother's  gaze  without  flinching.  My 
eyes  had  followed  hers,  and  my  look  was  taking 
in  both  her  mother  and  her  father.  I  had  long 
since  measured  them,  yet  I  could  scarcely  credit 
the  confirmation  of  my  judgment.  Had  life  been 
smooth  and  comfortable  for  that  old  couple,  as 
it  was  for  most  of  their  acquaintances  and 
friends,  they  would  have  lived  and  died  regard 
ing  themselves,  and  regarded,  as  well-bred,  kind 
ly  people,  of  the  finest  instincts  and  tastes.  But 
calamity  was  putting  to  the  test  the  system  on 
which  they  had  molded  their  apparently  elegant, 
graceful  lives.  The  storm  had  ripped  off  the  at 
tractive  covering;  the  framework,  the  reality 
of  that  system,  was  revealed,  naked  and  frightful. 

"  Anita,  go  to  your  room !  "  almost  screamed 
the  old  woman,  her  fury  tearing  away  the  last 
shreds  of  her  cloak  of  manners. 

"  Your  daughter  is  of  age,  madam,"  said  I. 
"  She  will  go  where  she  pleases.  And  I  warn 


MOST  UNLADYLIKE  259 

you  that  you  are  deceived  by  the  Langdons.  I 
am  not  powerless,  and  " —  here  I  let  her  have  a 
full  look  into  my  red-hot  furnaces  of  wrath  —  "I 
stop  at  nothing  in  pursuing  those  who  oppose 
me  —  at  nothing !  " 

Anita,  staring  at  her  mother's  awful  face,  was 
shrinking  and  trembling  as  if  before  the  wicked, 
pale-yellow  eyes  and  quivering,  outstretched  ten 
tacles  of  a  devil-fish.  Clinging  to  my  arm,  she 
let  me  guide  her  to  the  door.  Her  mother  re 
covered  speech.  "Anita!"  she  cried.  "What 
are  you  doing?  Are  you  mad?" 

"  I  think  I  must  be  out  of  my  mind,"  said 
Anita.  "  But,  if  you  try  to  keep  me  here,  I  shall 
tell  him  all  —  all." 

Her  voice  suggested  that  she  was  about  to  go 
into  hysterics.  I  gently  urged  her  forward. 
There  was  some  sort  of  woman's  wrap  in  the 
hall.  I  put  it  round  her.  Before  she  —  or  I  — 
realized  it,  she  was  in  my  waiting  electric. 

"  Up  town,"  I  said  to  my  man. 

She  tried  to  get  out. 

"  Oh,  what  have  I  done !  What  am  I  doing !  " 
she  cried,  her  courage  oozing  away.  "  Let  me 
out  —  please!  " 

"  You  are  going  with  me,"  said  I,  entering  and 


26o  THE  DELUGE 

closing  the  door.  I  saw  the  door  of  the  Ellersly 
mansion  opening,  saw  old  Ellersly,  bareheaded 
and  distracted,  scuttling  down  the  steps. 

"  Go  ahead  —  fast ! "  I  called  to  my  man. 

And  the  electric  was  rushing  up  the  avenue, 
with  the  bell  ringing  for  crossings  incessantly. 
She  huddled  away  from  me  into  the  corner  of 
the  seat,  sobbing  hysterically.  I  knew  that  to 
touch  her  would  be  fatal  —  or  to  speak.  So  I 
waited. 


XXII 

MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY 

As  we  neared  the  upper  end  of  the  park,  I  told 
my  chauffeur,  through  the  tube,  to  enter  and  go 
slowly.  Whenever  a  lamp  flashed  in  at  us,  I 
had  a  glimpse  of  her  progress  toward  composure 
—  now  she  was  drying  her  eyes  with  the  bit  of 
lace  she  called  a  handkerchief;  now  her  bare 
arms  were  up,  and  with  graceful  ringers  she  was 
arranging  her  hair;  now  she  was  straight  and 
still,  the  soft,  fluffy  material  with  which  her 
wrap  was  edged  drawn  close  about  her  throat. 
I  shifted  to  the  opposite  seat,  for  my  nerves 
warned  me  that  I  could  not  long  control  myself, 
if  I  stayed  on  where  her  garments  were  touch 
ing  me. 

I  looked  away  from  her  for  the  pleasure  of 
looking  at  her  again,  of  realizing  that  my  over 
wrought  senses  were  not  cheating  me.  Yes. 
there  she  was,  in  all  the  luster  of  that  magnetic 
beauty  I  can  not  think  of  even  now  without  an 
261 


262  THE  DELUGE 

upblazing  of  the  fire  which  is  to  the  heart  what 
the  sun  is  to  a  blind  man  dreaming  of  sight. 
There  she  was  on  my  side  of  the  chasm  that  had 
separated  us  —  alone  with  me  —  mine  —  mine ! 
And  my  heart  dilated  with  pride.  But  a  mo 
ment  later  came  a  sense  of  humility.  Her  beauty 
intoxicated  me,  but  her  youth,  her  fineness,  so 
fragile  for  such  rough  hands  as  mine,  awed  and 
humbled  me. 

"  I  must  be  very  gentle,"  said  I  to  myself.  "  I 
have  promised  that  she  shall  never  regret.  God 
help  me  to  keep  my  promise!  She  is  mine,  but 
only  to  preserve  and  protect." 

And  that  idea  of  responsibility  in  possession 
was  new  to  me  —  was  to  have  far-reaching  con 
sequences.  Now  that  I  think  of  it,  I  believe  it 
changed  the  whole  course  of  my  life. 

She  was  leaning  forward,  her  elbow  on  the 
casement  of  the  open  window  of  the  brougham, 
her  cheek  against  her  hand;  the  moonlight  was 
glistening  on  her  round,  firm  forearm  and  on  her 
serious  face.  "  How  far,  far  away  from  —  every 
thing  it  seems  here ! "  she  said,  her  voice  tuned 
to  that  soft,  clear  light,  "  and  how  beautiful  it 
is ! "  ,  Then,  addressing  the  moon  and  the  shad 
ows  of  the  trees  rather  than  me :  "I  wish  I  could 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY 


263 


go  on  and  on  —  and  never  return  to  —  to  the 
world." 

"  I  wish  we  could,"  said  I. 

My  tone  was  low,  but  she  started,  drew  back 
into  the  brougham,  became  an  outline  in  the  deep 
shadow.  In  another  mood  that  might  have 
angered  me.  Just  then  it  hurt  me  so  deeply  that 
to  remember  it  to-day  is  to  feel  a  faint  ache  in 
the  scar  of  the  long-healed  wound.  My  face  was 
not  hidden  as  was  hers ;  so,  perhaps,  she  saw.  At 
any  rate,  her  voice  tried  to  be  friendly  as  she 
said :  "  Well  —  I  have  crossed  the  Rubicon.  And 
I  don't  regret.  It  was  silly  of  me  to  cry.  I 
thought  I  had  been  through  so  much  that  I  was 
beyond  such  weakness.  But  you  will  find  me 
calm  from  now  on,  and  reasonable." 

"  Not  too  reasonable,  please,"  said  I,  with  an 
attempt  at  her  lightness.  "  A  reasonable  woman 
is  as  trying  as  an  unreasonable  man." 

"  But  we  are  going  to  be  sensible  with  each 
other,"  she  urged,  "  like  two  friends.  Aren't 
we?" 

"We  are  going  to  be  what  we  are  going  to 
be,"  said  I.  "We'll  have  to  take  life  as  it 


comes." 


That   clumsy   reminder   set  her  to  thinking, 


264  THE  DELUGE 

stirred  her  vague  uneasiness  in  those  strange  cir 
cumstances  to  active  alarm.  For  presently  she 
said,  in  a  tone  that  was  not  so  matter-of-course 
as  she  had  tried  to  make  it :  "  We'll  go  now  to  my 
Uncle  Frank's.  He's  a  brother  of  my  father's. 
I  always  used  to  like  him  best  —  and  still  do. 
But  he  married  a  woman  mama  thought  —  queer. 
They  hadn't  much,  so  he  lives  away  up  on  the 
[West  Side  —  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-seventh 
Street." 

"The  wise  plan,  the  only  wise  plan,"  said  I, 
not  so  calm  as  she  must  have  thought  me,  "is  to 
go  to  my  partner's  house  and  send  for  a  min 
ister." 

"  Not  to-night,"  she  replied  nervously.  "  Take 
me  to  Uncle  Frank's,  and  to-morrow  we  can  dis 
cuss  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it." 

"  To-night,"  I  persisted.  "  We  must  be  mar 
ried  to-night.  No  more  uncertainty  and  inde 
cision  and  weakness.  Let  us  begin  bravely, 
Anita!" 

"  To-morrow,"  she  said.  "  But  not  to-night. 
I  must  think  it  over." 

"To-night,"  I  repeated.  "Tomorrow  will 
be  full  of  its  own  problems.  This  is  to-nigbt's." 

She  shook  her  head,  and  I  saw  that  the  strug- 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  265 

.gle  between  us  had  begun  —  the  struggle  against 
her  timidity  and  conventionality.  "  No,  not  to 
night."  This  in  her  tone  for  finality. 

To  argue  with  any  woman  in  such  circum 
stances  would  be  dangerous;  to  argue  with  her 
would  have  been  fatal.  To  reason  with  a  woman 
is  to  flatter  her  into  suspecting  you  of  weakness 
and  herself  of  strength.  I  told  the  chauffeur  to 
turn  about  and  go  slowly  up  town.  She  settled 
back  into  her  corner  of  the  brougham.  Neither 
of  us  spoke  until  we  were  passing  Grant's  Tomb. 
Then  she  started  out  of  her  secure  confidence  in 
my  obedience,  and  exclaimed :  "  This  is  not  the 
way ! "  And  her  voice  had  in  it  the  hasty  call- 
to-arms. 

"  No,"  I  replied,  determined  to  push  the  panic 
into  a  rout.  "As  I  told  you,  our  future  shall 
be  settled  to-night/'  That  in  my  tone  for 
finality. 

A  pause,  then :  "  It  has  been  settled,"  she  said, 
like  a  child  that  feels,  yet  denies,  its  impotence  as 
it  struggles  in  the  compelling  arms  of  its  father. 
"  I  thought  until  a  few  minutes  ago  that  I  really 
intended  to  marry  you.  Now  I  see  that  I  didn't." 

"  Another  reason  why  we're  not  going  to  your 
uncle's,"  said  I. 


266  THE  DELUGE 

She  leaned  forward  so  that  I  could  see  her 
face.  "  I  can  not  marry  you,"  she  said.  "  I  feel 
humble  toward  you,  for  having  misled  you.  But 
it  is  better  that  you  —  and  I  —  should  have  found 
out  now  than  too  late." 

"  It  is  too  late  —  too  late  to  go  back." 

"  Would  you  wish  to  marry  a  woman  who  does 
not  love  you,  who  loves  some  one  else,  and  who 
tells  you  so  and  refuses  to  marry  you  ?  "  She 
had  tried  to  concentrate  enough  scorn  into  her 
voice  to  hide  her  fear. 

"  I  would,"  said  I.  "  And  I  shall.  I'll  not 
desert  you,  Anita,  when  your  courage  and 
strength  shall  fail.  I  will  carry  you  on  to  safe- 

ty." 

"  I  tell  you  I  can  not  marry  you,"  she  cried, 
between  appeal  and  command.  "  There  are  rea 
sons  —  I  may  not  tell  you.  But  if  I  might,  you 
would  —  would  take  me  to  my  uncle's.  I  can 
not  marry  you !  " 

"  That  is  what  conventionality  bids  you  say 
now,"  I  replied.  And  then  I  gathered  myself  to 
gether  and  in  a  tone  that  made  me  hate  myself  as  I 
heard  it,  I  added  slowly,  each  word  sharp  and  dis 
tinct  :  "  But  what  will  conventionality  bid  you 
say  to-morrow  morning,  as  we  drive  down 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY 

crowded  Fifth  Avenue,  after  a  night  in  this 
brougham?" 

I  could  not  see  her,  for  she  fell  back  into 
the  darkness  as  sharply  as  if  I  had  struck  her 
with  all  my  force  full  in  the  face.  But  I  could 
feel  the  effect  of  my  words  upon  her.  I  paused, 
not  because  I  expected  or  wished  an  answer,  but 
because  I  had  to  steady  myself  —  myself,  not  my 
purpose ;  my  purpose  was  inflexible.  I  would  put 
through  what  we  had  begun,  just  as  I  would 
have  held  her  and  cut  off  her  arm  with  my  pocket- 
knife  if  we  had  been  cast  away  alone,  and  I  had 
had  to  do  it  to  save  her  life.  She  was  not  compe 
tent  to  decide  for  herself.  Every  problem  that  had 
ever  faced  her  had  been  decided  by  others  for  her. 
Who  but  me  could  decide  for  her  now  ?  I  longed 
to  plead  with  her,  longed  to  let  her  see  that  I  was 
not  hard-hearted,  was  thinking  of  her,  was  acting 
for  her  sake  as  much  as  for  my  own.  But  I 
dared  not.  "  She  would  misunderstand,"  said  I 
to  myself.  "  She  would  think  you  were  weak 
ening." 

Full  fifteen  minutes  of  that  frightful  silence 
before  she  said:  "I  will  go  where  you  wish." 
And  she  said  it  in  a  tone  that  makes  me  wince 
as  I  recall  it. 


THE  DELUGE 

I  called  my  partner's  address  up  through  the 
tube.  Again  that  frightful  silence,  then  she  was 
trying  to  choke  back  the  sobs.  A  few  words  I 
caught :  "  They  have  broken  my  will  —  they  have 
-broken  my  will." 

My  partner  lived  in  a  big,  gray-stone  house 
that  stood  apart  and  commanded  a  noble  view 
of  the  Hudson  and  the  Palisades.  It  was,  in  the 
main,  a  reproduction  of  a  French  chateau,  and 
such  changes  as  the  architect  had  made  in  his 
model  were  not  positively  disfiguring,  though 
amusing.  There  should  have  been  trees  and 
shrubbery  about  it,  but  —  "As  Mrs.  B.  says," 
Joe  had  explained  to  me,  "  what's  the  use  of  sink 
ing  a  lot  of  cash  in  a  house  people  can't  see  ?  " 
So  there  was  not  a  bush,  not  a  flower.  Inside  — 
One  day  Ball  took  me  on  a  tour  of  the  art  shops. 
"  I've  got  a  dozen  corners  and  other  big  bare 
spots  to  fill,"  said  he.  "  Mrs.  B.  hates  to  give  up 
money,  haggles  over  every  article.  I'm  going  to 
put  the  job  through  in  business  style."  I  soon 
discovered  that  I  had  been  brought  along  to  ad 
mire  his  "  business  style,"  not  to  suggest.  After 
two  hours,  in  which  he  bought  in  small  lots  sev 
eral  tons  of  statuary,  paintings,  vases  and  rugs, 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY 

he  said,  "  This  is  too  slow."  He  pointed  his  stick 
at  a  crowded  corner  of  the  shop.  "  How  much 
for  that  bunch  of  stuff  ? "  he  demanded.  The 
proprietor  gave  him  a  figure.  "  I'll  close,"  said. 
Joe,  "  if  you'll  give  fifteen  off  for  cash."  The 
proprietor  agreed.  "  Now  we're  done,"  said  Joe 
to  me.  "  Let's  go  down  town,  and  maybe  I  can 
pick  up  what  I've  dropped." 

You  can  imagine  that  interior.  But  don't  pic 
ture  it  as  notably  worse  than  the  interior  of  the 
average  New  York  palace.  It  was,  if  anything, 
better  than  those  houses,  where  people  who  de 
ceive  themselves  about  their  lack  of  taste  have 
taken  great  pains  to  prevent  any  one  else  from 
being  deceived.  One  could  hardly  move  in  Joe's 
big  rooms  for  the  litter  of  gilded  and  tapestried 
furniture,  and  their  crowded  walls  made  the  eyes 
ache. 

The  appearance  of  the  man  who  opened  the 
door  for  Anita  and  me  suggested  that  our  ring 
had  roused  him  from  a  bed  where  he  had  de 
posited  himself  without  bothering  to  take  off  his 
clothes.  At  the  sound  of  my  voice,  Ball  peered 
out  of  his  private  smoking-room,  at  the  far  end 
of  the  hall.  He  started  forward;  then,  seeing 
how  I  was  accompanied,  stopped  with  mouth 


THE  DELUGE 

ajar.  He  had  on  a  ragged  smoking- jacket,  a  pair 
of  shapeless  old  Romeo  slippers,  his  ordinary 
business  waistcoat  and  trousers.  He  was  wear 
ing  neither  tie  nor  collar,  and  a  short,  black  pipe 
was  between  his  fingers.  We  had  evidently 
caught  the  household  stripped  of  "  lugs,"  and 
sunk  in  the  down-at-the-heel  slovenliness  which 
it  called  "  comfort."  Joe  was  crimson  with  con 
fusion,  and  was  using  his  free  hand  to  stroke, 
alternately,  his  shiny  bald  head  and  his  heavy 
brown  mustache.  He  got  himself  together  suffi 
ciently,  after  a  few  seconds,  to  disappear  into 
his  den.  When  he  came  out  again,  pipe  and 
ragged  jacket  were  gone,  and  he  rushed  for  us 
in  a  gorgeous  velvet  jacket  with  dark  red  facings, 
and  a  showy  pair  of  slippers. 

"  Glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Blacklock  "  —  in  his 
own  home  he  always  addressed  every  man  as 
Mister,  just  as  "  Mrs.  B."  always  called  him 
"  Mister  Ball,"  and  he  called  her  "  Missus  Ball  " 
before  "  company."  "  Come  right  into  the  front 
parlor.  Billy,  turn  on  the  electric  lights." 

Anita  had  been  standing  with  her  head  down. 
She  now  looked  round  with  shame  and  terror 
in  those  expressive  blue-gray  eyes  of  hers;  her 
delicate  nostrils  were  quivering.  I  hastened  to 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  271 

introduce  Ball  to  her.  Her  impulse  to  fly  passed ; 
her  lifelong  training  in  doing  the  conventional 
thing  asserted  itself.  She  lowered  her  head 
again,  murmured  an  inaudible  acknowledgment 
of  Joe's  greeting. 

"  Your  wife  is  at  home?  "  said  I.  If  one  was 
at  home  in  the  evening,  the  other  was  also,  and 
both  were  always  there,  unless  they  were  at  some 
theater  —  except  on  Sunday  night,  when  they 
dined  at  Sherry's,  because  many  fashionable  peo 
ple  did  it.  They  had  no  friends  and  few  ac 
quaintances.  In  their  humbler  and  happy  days 
they  had  had  many  friends,  but  had  lost  them 
when  they  moved  away  from  Brooklyn  and  went 
to  live,  like  uneasy,  out-of-place  visitors,  in  their 
grand  house,  pretending  to  be  what  they  longed 
to  be,  longing  to  be  what  they  pretended  to  be, 
and  as  discontented  as  they  deserved. 

"  Oh,  yes,  Mrs.  B.'s  at  home,"  Joe  answered. 
"  I  guess  she  and  Alva  were  —  about  to  go  to 
bed."  Alva  was  their  one  child.  She  had  been 
christened  Malvina,  after  Joe's  mother ;  but  when 
the  Balls  "blossomed  out"  they  renamed  her 
Alva,  which  they  somehow  had  got  the  impres 
sion  was  "  smarter." 

At  Joe's  blundering  confession  that  the  females 


272  THE  DELUGE 

of  the  family  were  in  no  condition  to  receive, 
Anita  said  to  me  in  a  low  voice :  "  Let  us  go." 

I  pretended  not  to  hear.  "  Rout  'em  out/' 
said  I  to  Toe.  "  Then,  take  my  electric  and  bring1 
the  nearest  parson.  There's  going  to  be  a  wed 
ding —  right  here."  And  I  looked  round  the 
long  salon,  with  everything  draped  for  the  sum 
mer  departure.  Joe  whisked  the  cover  off  one 
chair,  his  man  took  off  another.  "  I'll  have  the 
women-folks  down  in  two  minutes,"  he  cried. 
Then  to  the  man :  "  Get  a  move  on  you,  Billy. 
Stir  'em  up  in  the  kitchen.  Do  the  best  you  can 
about  supper  —  and  put  a  lot  of  champagne  on 
the  ice.  That's  the  main  thing  at  a  wedding." 

Anita  had  seated  herself  listlessly  in  one  of 
the  uncovered  chairs.  The  wrap  slipped  back 
from  her  shoulders  and  —  how  proud  I  was  of 
her!  Joe  gazed,  took  advantage  of  her  not  look 
ing  up  to  slap  me  on  the  back  and  to  jerk  his 
head  in  enthusiastic  approval.  Then  he,  too,  dis 
appeared. 

A  wait  followed,  during  which  we  could  hear, 
through  the  silence,  excited  undertones  from  the 
upper  floors.  The  words  were  indistinct  until 
Joe's  heavy  voice  sent  down  to  us  an  angry  "  No 
damn  nonsense,  I  tell  you.  Allie's  got  to  come, 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  273 

too.     She's  not  such  a  fool  as  you  think.     Bad 
example  —  bosh !  " 

Anita  started  up.  "  Oh  —  please  —  please !  " 
she  cried.  "  Take  me  away  —  anywhere !  This 
is  dreadful." 

It  was,  indeed,  dreadful.  If  I  could  have  had 
my  way  at  just  that  moment,  it  would  have  gone 
hard  with  "  Mrs.  B."  and  "  Allie  "—  and  heavy- 
voiced  Joe,  too.  But  I  hid  my  feelings. 
"  There's  nowhere  else  to  go,"  said  I,  "  except 
the  brougham." 

She  sank  into  her  chair. 

A  few  minutes  more  of  silence,  and  there  was* 
a  rustling  on  the  stairs.  She  started  up, 
trembling,  looked  round,  as  if  seeking  some  way 
of  escape  or  some  place  to  hide.  Joe  was  in 
the  doorway  holding  aside  one  of  the  curtains. 
There  entered  in  a  beribboned  and  beflounced 
tea-gown,  a  pretty,  if  rather  ordinary,  woman  of 
forty,  with  a  petulant  baby  face.  She  was  try 
ing  to  look  reserved  and  severe.  She  hardly 
glanced  at  me  before  fastening  sharp,  suspicious 
eyes  on  Anita. 

"  Mrs.  Ball,"  said  I,  "  this  is  Miss  Ellersly." 

"  Miss  Ellersly ! "  she  exclaimed,  her  face 
changing.  And  she  advanced  and  took  both 


274  THE  DELUGE 

Anita's  hands.  "  Mr.  Ball  is  so  stupid,"  she 
went  on,  with  that  amusingly  affected  accent 
which  is  the  "  Sunday  clothes  "  of  speech. 

"  I  didn't  catch  the  name,  my  dear,"  Joe  stam 
mered. 

"Be  off,"  said  I,  aside,  to  him.  "Get  the 
nearest  preacher,  and  hustle  him  here  with  his 
tools." 

I  had  one  eye  on  Anita  all  the  time,  and  I 
saw  her  gaze  follow  Joe  as  he  hurried  out;  and 
her  expression  made  my  heart  ache.  I  heard  him 
saying  in  the  hall,  "  Go  in,  Allie.  It's  O  K" ; 
heard  the  door  slam,  knew  we  should  soon  have 
some  sort  of  minister  with  us. 

"  Allie  "  entered  the  drawing-room.  I  had  not 
seen  her  in  six  years.  I  remembered  her  unpleas 
antly  as  a  great,  bony,  florid  child,  unable  to 
stand  still  or  to  sit  still,  or  to  keep  her  tongue 
still,  full  of  aimless  questions  and  giggles  and 
silly  remarks  that  she  and  her  mother  thought 
funny.  I  saw  her  now,  grown  into  a  handsome 
young  woman,  with  enough  beauty  points  for  an 
honorable  mention,  if  not  for  a  prize  —  straight 
and  strong  and  rounded,  with  a  brow  and  a  keen 
look  out  of  the  eyes  which  it  seemed  a  pity  should 
be  wasted  on  a  woman.  Her  mother's  looks,  her 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  275 

father's  good  sense,  a  personality  apparently  got 
from  neither,  but  all  her  own,  and  unusual  and 
interesting.  No  wonder  the  Balls  felt  toward 
her  much  as  a  pair  of  barn-swallows  would  feel 
if  they  were  to  hatch  out  an  eaglet.  These  quiet, 
tame  American  parents  that  are  always  rinding 
their  suppressed  selves,  the  bold,  fantastic,  unad 
mitted  dreams  of  their  youth  start lingly  confront 
ing  them  in  the  flesh  as  their  own  children ! 

"  From  what  Mr.  Ball  said,"—  Mrs.  Ball  was 
gushing  affectedly  to  Anita, —  "  I  got  an  idea  that 
—  well,  really,  I  didn't  know  what  to  think." 

Anita  looked  as  if  she  were  about  to  suffocate. 
Allie  came  to  the  rescue.  "  Not  very  compli 
mentary  to  Mr.  Blacklock,  mother,"  said  she 
good-humoredly.  Then  to  Anita,  with  a  simple 
friendliness  there  was  no  resisting :  "  Wouldn't 
you  like  to  come  up  to  my  room  for  a  few  min 
utes?" 

"  Oh,  thank  you ! "  responded  Anita,  after  a 
quick,  but  thorough  inspection  of  Alva's  face,  to 
make  sure  she  was  like  her  voice.  I  had  not 
counted  on  this ;  I  had  been  assuming  that  Anita 
would  not  be  out  of  my  sight  until  we  were  mar 
ried.  It  was  on  the  tip  of  my  tongue  to  interfere 
when  she  looked  at  me  —  for  permission  to  go ! 


276 


THE  DELUGE 


"  Don't  keep  her  too  long,"  said  I  to  Alva,  and 
they  were  gone. 

"  You  can't  blame  me  —  really  you  can't,  Mr. 
Blacklock,"  Mrs.  Ball  began  to  plead  for  herself, 
as  soon  as  they  were  safely  out  of  hearing. 
"After  some  things  —  mere  hints,  you  under 
stand  —  for  I'm  careful  what  I  permit  Mr.  Ball 
to  say  before  me.  I  think  married  people  can  not 
be  too  respectful  of  each  other.  I  never  tolerate 
vulgarity" 

"  No  doubt,  Joe  has  made  me  out  a  very  vulgar 
person,"  said  I,  forgetting  her  lack  of  humor. 

"Oh,  not  at  all,  not  at  all,  Mr.  Blacklock," 
^she  protested,  in  a  panic  lest  she  had  done  her 
husband  damage  with  me.  "  I  understand,  men 
will  be  men,  though  as  a  pure-minded  woman, 
I'm  sure  I  can't  imagine  why  they  should  be." 

"  How  far  off  is  the  nearest  church?  "  I  cut  in. 

"  Only  two  blocks  —  that  is,  the  Methodist 
church,"  she  replied.  "But  I  know  Mr.  Ball 
will  bring  an  Episcopalian." 

"  Why,  I  thought  you  were  a  devoted  Pres 
byterian,"  said  I,  recall^:?-  how  in  their  Brooklyn 
days  she  used  to  insist  on  Joe's  going  twice  every 
Sunday  to  sleep  through  long  sermons. 

She   looked   uncomfortable.     "  I   was   reared 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  277 

Presbyterian,"  she  explained  confusedly,  "  but 
you  know  how  it  is  in  New  York.  And  when  we 
came  to  live  here,  we  got  out  of  the  habit  of 
church-going.  And  all  Alva's  little  friends  were 
Episcopalians.  So  I  drifted  toward  that  church. 
I  find  the  service  so  satisfying  —  so  —  elegant. 
And  —  one  sees  there  the  people  one  sees  so 
cially." 

"  How  is  your  culture  class  ?  "  I  inquired,  de 
liberately  malicious,  in  my  impatience  and  ner 
vousness.  "  And  do  you  still  take  conversation 
lessons  ?  " 

She  was  furiously  annoyed.  "  Oh,  those  old 
jokes  of  Joe's,"  she  said,  affecting  disdainful 
amusement. 

In  fact,  they  were  anything  but  jokes.  On 
Mondays  and  Thursdays  she  used  to  attend  a 
class  for  women  who,  like  herself,  wished  to  be 
"  up-to-date  on  culture  and  all  that  sort  of  thing." 
They  hired  a  teacher  to  cram  them  with  odds  and 
ends  about  art  and  politics  and  the  "  latest  litera 
ture,  heavy  and  light."  On  Tuesdays  and  Fri 
days  she  had  an  "  indigent  gentlewoman,"  what 
ever  that  may  be,  come  to  her  to  teach  her  how 
to  converse  and  otherwise  conduct  herself 
according  to  the  "  standards  of  polite  society." 


278  THE  DELUGE 

Joe  used  to  give  imitations  of  those  conversation 
lessons  that  raised  roars  of  laughter  round  the 
poker  table,  the  louder  because  so  many  of  the 
other  men  had  wives  with  the  same  ambitions  and 
the  same  methods  of  attaining  them. 

Mrs.  Ball  came  back  to  the  subject  of  Anita. 

"  I  am  glad  you  are  going  to  settle  with  such 
a  charming  girl.  She  comes  of  such  a  charming 
family.  I  have  never  happened  to  meet  any  of 
them.  We  are  in  the  West  Side  set,  you  know, 
while  they  move  in  the  East  Side  set,  and  New 
York  is  so  large  that  one  almost  never  meets 
any  one  outside  one's  own  set."  This  smooth 
snobbishness,  said  in  the  affected  "  society  "  tone, 
was  as  out  of  place  in  her  as  rouge  and  hair-dye 
in  a  wholesome,  honest  old  grandmother. 

I  began  to  pace  the  floor.  "  Can  it  be,"  I 
fretted  aloud,  "  that  Joe's  racing  round  looking 
for  an  Episcopalian  preacher,  when  there  was 
a  Methodist  at  hand?" 

"  I'm  sure  he  wouldn't  bring  anything  but  a 
Church  of  England  priest,"  Mrs.  Ball  assured  me 
loftily.  "  Why,  Miss  Ellersly  wouldn't  think  she 
was  married,  if  she  hadn't  a  priest  of  her  own 
church." 

My  temper  got  the  bit  in  its  teeth.     I  stopped 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  279 

before  her,  and  fixed  her  with  an  eye  that  must 
have  had  some  fire  in  it.  "  I'm  not  marrying  a 
fool,  Mrs.  Ball,"  said  I.  "You  mustn't  judge 
her  by  her  bringing-up  —  by  her  family.  Chil 
dren  have  a  way  of  bringing  themselves  up,  in 
spite  of  damn  fool  parents." 

She  weakened  so  promptly  that  I  was  ashamed 
of  myself.  My  only  apology  for  getting  out  of 
patience  with  her  is  that  I  had  seen  her  seldom 
in  the  last  few  years,  had  forgotten  how  matter- 
of-surface  her  affectation  and  snobbery  were,  and 
how  little  they  interfered  with  her  being  a  good 
mother  and  a  good  wife,  up  to  the  limits  of  her 
brain  capacity. 

"  I'm  sure,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  she  said  plaintively, 
"  I  only  wished  to  say  what  was  pleasant  and 
nice  about  your  fiancee.  I  know  she's  a  lovely 
girl.  I've  often  admired  her  at  the  opera.  She 
goes  a  great  deal  in  Mrs.  Langdon's  box,  and 
Mrs.  Langdon  and  I  are  together  on  the  board 
of  managers  of  the  Magdalene  Home,  and  also 
on  the  board  of  the  Hospital  for  Unfortunate 
Gentlefolk."  And  so  on,  and  on. 

I  walked  up  and  down  among  those  wrapped- 
up,  ghostly  chairs  and  tables  and  cabinets  and 
statues  many  times  before  Joe  arrived  with  the 


28o  THE  DELUGE 

minister  —  and  he  was  a  Methodist,  McCabe  by 
name.  You  should  have  seen  Mrs.  Ball's  look 
as  he  advanced  his  portly  form  and  round  face 
with  its  shaven  upper  lip  into  the  drawing-room. 
She  tried  to  be  cordial,  but  she  couldn't — -her 
mind  was  on  Anita,  and  the  horror  that  would 
fill  her  when  she  discovered  that  she  was  to  be 
married  by  a  preacher  of  a  sect  unknown  to  fash 
ionable  circles. 

"  All  I  ask  of  you,"  said  I  to  him,  "  is  that 
you  cut  it  as  short  as  possible.  Miss  Ellersly 
is  tired  and  nervous."  This  while  we  were  shak 
ing  hands  after  Joe's  introduction. 

"  You  can  count  on  me,  sir,"  said  McCabe, 
giving  my  hand  an  extra  shake  before  dropping 
it.  "  I've  no  doubt,  from  what  my  young  neigh 
bor  here  tells  me,  that  your  marriage  is  already 
made  in  your  hearts  and  with  all  solemnity.  The 
form  is  an  incident  —  important,  but  only  an 
incident." 

I  liked  that,  and  I  liked  his  unaffected  way  of 
saying  it.  His  voice  had  more  of  the  homely, 
homelike,  rural  twang  in  it  than  I  had  heard  in 
New  York  in  many  a  day.  I  mentally  doubled 
the  fee  I  had  intended  to  give  him.  And  now 
Alva  and  she  were  coming  down  the  stairway. 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  28l 

I  was  amazed  at  sight  of  her.  Her  evening  dress 
had  given  place  to  a  pretty  blue  street  suit  with 
a  short  skirt  —  white  showing  at  her  wrists,  at 
her  neck  and  through  slashings  in  the  coat  over 
her  bosom ;  and  on  her  head  was  a  hat  to  match. 
I  looked  at  her  feet  —  the  slippers  had  been  re 
placed  by  boots.  "And  they're  just  right  for 
her,"  said  Alva,  who  was  following  my  glance, 
"  though  I'm  not  so  tall  as  she." 

But  what  amazed  me  most,  and  delighted  me, 
was  that  she  seemed  to  be  almost  in  good  spirits. 
It  was  evident  she  had  formed  with  Joe's  daugh 
ter  one  of  those  sudden  friendships  so  great  and 
so  vivid  that  they  rarely  lived  long  after  the  pass 
ing  of  the  heat  of  the  emergency  that  bred 
them.  Mrs.  Ball  saw  it,  also,  and  was  straight 
way  giddied  into  a  sort  of  ecstasy.  You  can 
imagine  the  visions  it  conjured.  I've  no  doubt 
she  talked  house  on  the  east  side  of  the  park  to 
Joe  that  very  night,  before  she  let  him  sleep. 
However,  Anita's  face  was  serious  enough  when 
we  took  our  places  before  the  minister,  with  his 
little,  black-bound  book  open.  And  as  he  read 
in  a  voice  that  was  genuinely  impressive  those 
words  that  no  voice  could  make  unimpressive,  I 
saw  her  paleness  blanch  into  pallor,  saw  the  dusk 


282  THE  DELUGE 

creep  round  her  eyes  until  they  were  like  stars 
waning  somberly  before  the  gray  face  of  dawn. 
When  they  closed  and  her  head  began  to  sway, 
I  steadied  her  with  my  arm.  And  so  we  stood, 
I  with  my  arm  round  her,  she  leaning  lightly 
against  my  shoulder.  Her  answers  were  mere 
movements  of  the  lips. 

At  the  end,  when  I  kissed  her  cheek,  she  said : 
"Is  it  over?" 

"  Yes,"  McCabe  answered  —  she  was  looking 
at  him.  "And  I  wish  you  all  happiness,  Mrs. 
Blacklock." 

At  that  name,  her  new  name,  she  stared  at 
him  with  great  wondering  eyes;  then  her  form 
relaxed.  I  carried  her  to  a*  chair.  Joe  came 
with  a  glass  of  champagne;  she  drank  some  of 
it,  and  it  brought  life  back  to  her  face,  and  some 
color.  With  a  naturalness  that  deceived  even 
me  for  the  moment,  she  smiled  up  at  Joe  as  she 
handed  him  the  glass.  "  Is  it  bad  luck,"  she 
asked,  "  for  me  to  be  the  first  to  drink  my  own 
health  ?  "  And  she  stood,  looking  tranquilly  at 
every  one  —  except  me. 

I  took  McCabe  into  the  hall  and  paid  him  off. 

When  we  came  back,  I  said :  "  Now  we  must 
be  going." 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  28j 

"  Oh,  t>ut  surely  you'll  stay  for  supper!"  cried 
Joe's  wife. 

"No,"  replied  I,  in  a  tone  that  made  it  im 
possible  to  insist.  "We  appreciate  your  kind 
ness,  but  we've  imposed  on  it  enough."  And  I 
shook  hands  with  her  and  with  Allie  and  the 
minister,  and,  linking  Joe's  arm  in  mine,  made 
for  the  door.  I  gave  the  necessary  directions  to 
my  chauffeur  while  we  were  waiting  for  Anita 
to  come  down  the  steps.  Joe's  daughter  was 
close  beside  her,  and  they  kissed  each  other  good- 
by,  Alva  on  the  verge  of  tears,  Anita  not 
suggesting  any  emotion  of  any  sort.  "  To-mor 
row —  sure,"  Anita  said  to  her.  And  she  an 
swered  :  "  Yes,  indeed  —  as  soon  as  you  telephone 
me."  And  so  we  were  off,  a  shower  of  rice  rat 
tling  on  the  roof  of  the  brougham  —  the  slat 
ternly  man-servant  had  thrown  it  from  the  midst 
of  the  group  of  servants. 

Neither  of  us  spoke.  I  watched  her  face  with 
out  seeming  to  do  so,  and  by  the  light  of  oc 
casional  street  lamps  saw  her  studying  me  fur 
tively.  At  last  she  said :  "  I  wish  to  go  to  my 
uncle's  now." 

"  We  are  going  home/'  said  I. 

"But  the  house  will  be  shut  up,"  said  shey 


284  THE  DELUGE 

"  and  every  one  will  be  in  bed.  It's  nearly  mid 
night.  Besides,  they  might  not — "  She  came 
to  a  full  stop. 

"  We  are  going  home,"  I  repeated.  "  To  the 
Willoughby." 

She  gave  me  a  look  that  was  meant  to  scorch 
—  and  it  did.  But  I  showed  at  the  surface  no 
sign  of  how  I  was  wincing  and  shrinking. 

She  drew  farther  into  her  corner,  and  out  of 
its  darkness  came,  in  a  low  voice :  "  How  I  hate 
you !  "  like  the  whisper  of  a  bullet. 

I  kept  silent  until  I  had  control  of  myself. 
Then,  as  if  talking  of  a  matter  that  had  been 
finally  and  amicably  settled,  I  began :  "  The  apart 
ment  isn't  exactly  ready  for  us,  but  Joe's  just 
about  now  telephoning  my  man  that  we  are  com 
ing,  and  telephoning  your  people  to  send  your 
maid  down  there." 

"  I  wish  to  go  to  my  uncle's,"  she  repeated. 

"  My  wife  will  go  with  me,"  said  I  quietly  and 
gently.  "  I  am  considerate  of  her,  not  of  her 
unwise  impulses." 

A  long  pause,  then  from  her,  in  icy  calmness : 
"  I  am  in  your  power  just  now.  But  I  warn 
you  that,  if  you  do  not  take  me  to  my  uncle's, 
you  will  wish  you  had  never  seen  me." 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  285 

"  I've  wished  that  many  times  already,"  said 
I  sadly.  "  I've  wished  it  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart  this  whole  evening,  when  step  by  step  fate 
has  been  forcing  me  on  to  do  things  that  are 
even  more  hateful  to  me  than  to  you.  For  they 
not  only  make  me  hate  myself,  but  make  you 
hate  me,  too."  I  laid  my  hand  on  her  arm  and 
held  it  there,  though  she  tried  to  draw  away. 
"  Anita,"  I  said,  "  I  would  do  anything  for  you 
—  live  for  you,  die  for  you.  But  there's  that 
something  inside  me  —  you've  felt  it;  and  when 
it  says  '  must/  I  can't  disobey  —  you  know  I 
can't.  And,  though  you  might  break  my  heart, 
you  could  not  break  that  will.  It's  as  much  my; 
master  as  it  is  yours." 

"  We  shall  see  —  to-morrow,"  she  said. 

"  Do  not  put  me  to  the  test,"  I  pleaded.  Then 
I  added  what  I  knew  to  be  true :  "  But  you  will 
not.  You  know  it  would  take  some  one  stronger 
than  your  uncle,  stronger  than  your  parents,  to 
swerve  me  from  what  I  believe  right  for  you  and 
for  me."  I  had  no  fear  for  "  to-morrow."  The 
hour  when  she  could  defy  me  had  passed. 

A  long,  long  silence,  the  electric  speeding 
southward  under  the  arching  trees  of  the  West 
Drive.  I  remember  it  was  as  we  skirted  the 


286  THE  DELUGE 

lower  end  of  the  Mall  that  she  said  evenly :  "  You 
have  made  me  hate  you  so  that  it  terrifies  me.  I 
am  afraid  of  the  consequences  that  must  come 
to  you  and  to  me." 

"  And  well  you  may  be,"  I  answered  gently. 
"  For  you've  seen  enough  of  me  to  get  at  least 
a  hint  of  what  I  would  do,  if  goaded  to  it.  Hate 
is  terrible,  Anita,  but  love  can  be  more  ter 
rible." 

At  the  Willoughby  she  let  me  help  her  descend 
from  the  electric,  waited  until  I  sent  it  away, 
walked  beside  me  into  the  building.  My  man, 
Sanders,  had  evidently  been  listening  for  the  ele 
vator;  the  door  opened  without  my  ringing,  and 
there  he  was,  bowing  low.  She  acknowledged 
his  welcome  with  that  regard  for  "  appearances  " 
that  training  had  made  instinctive.  In  the  cen 
ter  of  my  —  our  —  drawing-room  table  was  a 
mass  of  fresh  white  roses.  "  Where  did  you  get 
'em  ?  "  I  asked  him,  in  an  aside. 

"  The  elevator  boy's  brother,  sir,"  he  replied, 
"  works  in  the  florist's  shop  just  across  the  street, 
next  to  the  church.  He  happened  to  be  down 
stairs  when  I  got  your  message,  sir.  So  I  was 
able  to  get  a  few  flowers.  I'm  sorry,  sir,  I  hadn't 
a  little  more  time." 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY 

"  You've  done  noble,"  said  I,  and  I  shook 
hands  with  him  warmly. 

Anita  was  greeting  those  flowers  as  if  they 
were  a  friend  suddenly  appearing  in  a  time  of 
need.  She  turned  now  and  beamed  on  Sanders. 
"Thank  you,"  she  said;  "thank  you/'  And 
Sanders  was  hers. 

"  Anything  I  can  do  —  ma'am  — sir  ?  "  asked 
Sanders. 

"  Nothing  — •  except  send  my  maid  as  soon  as 
she  comes,"  she  replied. 

"  I  shan't  need  you/'  said  I. 

"  Mr.  Monson  is  still  here,"  he  said,  lingering. 
"  Shall  I  send  him  away,  sir,  or  do  you  wish  to 
see  him  ?  " 

"  I'll  speak  to  him  myself  in  a  moment,"  I 
answered. 

When  Sanders  was  gone,  she  seated  herself 
and  absently  played  with  the  buttons  of  her 
glove. 

"Shall  I  bring  Monson?"  I  asked.  "You 
know,  he's  my  —  factotum." 

"  /  do  not  wish  to  see  him,"  she  answered. 

"You  do  not  like  him?" 

After  a  brief  hesitation  she  answered,  "  No." 
Not  for  worlds  would  she  just  then  have  ad- 


2g8  THE  DELUGE 

mitted,  even  to  herself,  that  the  cause  of  her  dis 
like  was  her  knowledge  of  his  habit  of  tattling, 
with  suitable  embroideries,  his  lessons  to  me. 

I  restrained  a  strong  impulse  to  ask  her  why, 
for  instinct  told  me  she  had  some  especial  reason 
that  somehow  concerned  me.  I  said  merely : 
"  Then  I  shall  get  rid  of  him." 

"  Not  on  my  account,"  she  replied  indiffer 
ently.  "  I  care  nothing;  about  him  one  way  or 
the  other." 

"  He  goes  at  the  end  of  his  month/'  said  I. 

She  was  now  taking  off  her  gloves.  "  Before 
your  maid  comes,"  I  went  on,  "  let  me  explain 
about  the  apartment.  This  room  and  the  two 
leading  out  of  it  are  yours.  My  own  suite  is  on 
the  other  side  of  our  private  hall  there." 

She  colored  high,  paled.  I  saw  that  she  did 
not  intend  to  speak. 

I  stood  awkwardly,  waiting  for  something 
further  to  come  into  my  own  head.  "  Good 
night,"  said  I  finally,  as  if  I  were  taking  leave  of 
a  formal  acquaintance  at  the  end  of  a  formal 
call. 

She  did  not  answer.  I  left  the  room,  closing 
the  door  behind  me.  I  paused  an  instant,  heard 
the  key  click  in  the  lock.  And  I  burned  in  a 


MOST  UNGENTLEMANLY  289 

hot  flush  of  shame  that  she  should  be  thinking 
thus  basely  of  me  —  and  with  good  cause.  How 
could  she  know,  how  appreciate  even  if  she  had 
known?  "You've  had  to  cut  deep,"  said  I  to 
myself.  "  But  the  wounds' 11  heal,  though  it  may 
take  long  —  very  long."  And  I  went  on  my 
way,  not  wholly  downcast. 

I  joined  Monson  in  my  little  smoking-room. 
*'  Congratulate  you,"  he  began,  with  his  nasty, 
supercilious  grin,  which  of  late  had  been  getting 
t>n  my  nerves  severely. 

"  Thanks,"  I  replied  curtly,  paying  no  atten 
tion  to  his  outstretched  hand.  "  I  want  you  to 
put  a  notice  of  the  marriage  in  to-morrow  morn 
ing's  Herald." 

"  Give  me  the  facts  —  clergyman's  name  — • 
place,  and  so  on,"  said  he. 

"  Unnecessary,"  I  answered.  "  Just  our  names 
and  the  date  —  that's  all.  You'd  better  step 
lively.  It's  late,  and  it'll  be  too  late  if  you  de- 
lay." 

With  an  irritating  show  of  deliberation  he  lit 
a  fresh  cigarette  before  setting  out.  I  heard 
her  maid  come.  After  about  an  hour  I  went 
into  the  hall  —  no  light  through  the  transoms 
of  her  suite.  I  returned  to  my  own  part  of  the 


30,0  THE  DELUGE 

flat  and  went  to  bed  in  the  spare  room  to  which 
Sanders  had  moved  my  personal  belongings. 
That  day  which  began  in  disaster  —  in  what  a 
blaze  of  triumph  it  had  ended !  Anita  • —  my 
wife,  and  under  my  roof!  I  slept  with  good 
conscience.  I  had  earned  sleep. 


XXIII 
"SHE  HAS  CHOSEN!" 

Joe  got  to  the  office  rather  later  than  usual 
the  next  morning.  They  told  him  I  was  already 
there,  but  he  wouldn't  believe  it  until  he  had 
come  into  my  private  den  and  with  his  own 
eyes  had  seen  me.  "Well,  I'm  jiggered!"  said 
he.  "  It  seems  to  have  made  less  impression 
on  you  than  it  did  on  us.  My  missus  and  the 
little  un  wouldn't  let  me  go  to  bed  till  after  two. 
They  sat  on  and  on,  questioning  and  discussing." 

I  laughed  —  partly  because  I  knew  that  Joe, 
like  most  men,  was  as  full  of  gossip  and  as  eager 
for  it  as  a  convalescent  old  maid,  and  that,  who 
ever  might  have  been  the  first  at  his  house  to 
make  the  break  for  bed,  he  was  the  last  to  leave 
off  talking.  But  the  chief  reason  for  my  laugh 
was  that,  just  before  he  came  in  on  me,  I  was 
almost  pinching  myself  to  see  whether  I  was 
dreaming  it  all,  and  he  had  made  me  feel  how 
vividly  true  it  was. 

291 


292  THE  DELUGE 

"  Why  don't  you  ease  down,  Blacklock  ?  "  he 
went  on.  "  Everything's  smooth.  The  busi 
ness  —  at  least,  my  end  of  it,  and  I  suppose  your 
end,  too  — •  was  never  better,  never  growing  so 
fast.  You  could  go  off  for  a  week  or  two,  just 
as  well  as  not.  I  don't  know  of  a  thing  that  can 
prevent  you.'"' 

And  he  honestly  thought  it,  so  little  did  I  let 
him  know  about  the  larger  enterprises  of  Black- 
lock  and  Company.  I  could  have  spoken  a  dozen 
words,  and  he  would  have  been  floundering  like 
a  caught  fish  in  a  basket.  There  are  men  —  a 
very  few  —  who  work  more  swiftly  and  more 
surely  when  they  know  they're  on  the  brink  of 
ruin;  but  not  Joe.  One  glimpse  of  our  real 
National  Coal  account,  and  all  my  power  over 
him  couldn't  have  kept  him  from  showing  the 
whole  Street  that  Blacklock  and  Company  was 
shaky.  And  whenever  the  Street  begins  to  think 
a  man  is  shaky,  he  must  be  strong  indeed  to  es 
cape  the  fate  of  the  wolf  that  stumbles  as  it  runs 
with  the  pack. 

"  No  holiday  at  present,  Joe,"  was  my  reply 
to  his  suggestion.  "  Perhaps  the  second  week  in 
July;  but  our  marriage  was  so  sudden  that  we 
haven't  had  the  time  to  get  ready  for  a  trip." 


"  SHE  HAS  CHOSEN !  "  293 

"Yes  —  it  was  sudden,  wasn't  it?"  said  Joe, 
curiosity  twitching  his  nose  like  a  dog's  at  scent 
of  a  rabbit.  "  How  did  it  happen?  " 

"  Oh,  I'll  tell  you  sometime,"  replied  I.  "  I 
must  work  now." 

And  work  a-plenty  there  was.  Before  me  rose 
a  sheaf  of  clamorous  telegrams  from  our  out-of- 
town  customers  and  our  agents;  and  soon  my 
anteroom  was  crowded  with  my  local  following, 
sore  and  shorn.  I  suppose  a  score  or  more  of 
the  habitual  heavy  plungers  on  my  tips  were 
ruined  and  hundreds  of  others  were  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  out  of  pocket.  "  Do  you 
want  me  to  talk  to  these  people  ?  "  inquired  Joe, 
with  the  kindly  intention  of  giving  me  a  chance 
to  shift  the  unpleasant  duty  to  him. 

"  Certainly  not,"  said  I.  "  When  the  place  is 
jammed,  let  me  know.  I'll  jack  'em  up." 

It  made  Joe  uneasy  for  me  even  to  talk  of 
using  my  "  language  " —  he  would  have  crawled 
from  the  Battery  to  Harlem  to  keep  me  from 
using  it  on  him.  So  he  silently  left  me  alone. 
My  system  of  dealing  face  to  face  with  the 
speculating  and  investing  public  had  many  great 
advantages  over  that  of  all  the  other  big  opera 
tors  —  their  system  of  hiding  behind  cleverly- 


294  THE  DELUGE 

contrived  screens  and  slaughtering  the  decoyed 
public  without  showing  so  much  as  the  tip  of 
a  gun  or  nose  that  could  be  identified.  But  to 
my  method  there  was  a  disadvantage  that  made 
men,  who  happened  to  have  more  hypocrisy  and 
less  nerve  than  I,  shrink  from  it.  When  one 
of  my  tips  miscarried,  down  upon  me  would 
swoop  the  bad  losers  in  a  body  to  give  me  a 
turbulent  quarter  of  an  hour. 

Toward  ten  o'clock,  my  boy  came  in  and  said : 
"  Mr.  Ball  thinks  it's  about  time  for  you  to  see 
some  of  these  people." 

I  went  into  the  main  room,  where  the  tickers 
and  blackboards  were.  As  I  approached  through 
my  outer  office  I  could  hear  the  noise  the  crowd 
was  making  —  as  they  cursed  me.  If  you  want 
to  rile  the  true  inmost  soul  of  the  average  human 
being,  don't  take  his  reputation  or  his  wife ;  just 
cause  him*  to  lose  money.  There  were  among 
my  speculating  customers  many  with  the  even- 
tenored  sporting  instinct.  These  were  bearing 
their  losses  with  philosophy  —  none  of  them  had 
swooped  on  me.  Of  the  perhaps  three  hundred 
who  had  come  to  ease  their  anguish  by  tongue- 
lashing  me,  every  one  was  a  bad  loser  and  was 
mad  through  and  through  —  those  who  had  lost 


"SHE  HAS  CHOSEN!"  295 

a  few  hundred  dollars  were  as  infuriated  as  those 
whom  my  misleading  tip  had  cost  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands;  those  whom  I  had  helped  to 
win  all  they  had  in  the  world  were  more  savage 
than  those  new  to  my  following. 

I  took  my  stand  in  the  doorway,  a  step  up 
from  the  floor  of  the  main  room.  I  looked  all 
round  until  I  had  met  each  pair  of  angry  eyes. 
They  say  I  can  give  my  face  an  expression  that 
is  anything  but  agreeable;  such  talent  as  I  have 
in  that  direction  I  exerted  then.  The  instant  I 
appeared  a  silence  fell;  but  I  waited  until  the 
last  pair  of  claws  drew  in.  Then  I  said,  in  the 
quiet  tone  the  army  officer  uses  when  he  tells 
the  mob  that  the  machine  guns  will  open  up  in 
two  minutes  by  the  watch :  "  Gentlemen,  in  the 
effort  to  counteract  my  warning  to  the  public,  the 
Textile  crowd  rocketed  the  stock  yesterday. 
Those  who  heeded  my  warning  and  sold  got  ex 
cellent  prices.  Those  who  did  not  should  sell 
to-day.  Not  even  the  powerful  interests  behind 
Textile  can  long  maintain  yesterday's  prices." 

A  wave  of  restlessness  passed  over  the  crowd. 
Many  shifted  their  eyes  from  me  and  began  to 
•murmur. 

I  raised  my  voice  slightly  as  I  went  on :  "  The 


THE  DELUGE 

speculators,  the  gamblers,  are  the  only  people 
who  were  hurt.  Those  who  sold  what  they  didn't 
have  are  paying  for  their  folly.  I  have  no  sym 
pathy  for  them.  Blacklock  and  Company  wishes 
none  such  in  its  following,  and  seizes  every  op 
portunity  to  weed  them  out.  We  are  in  business 
only  for  the  bona  fide  investing  public,  and  we 
are  stronger  with  that  public  to-day  than  we 
have  ever  been." 

Again  I  looked  from  coward  to  coward  of 
that  mob,  changed  from  three  hundred  strong  to 
three  hundred  weak.  Then  I  bowed  and  with 
drew,  leaving  them  to  mutter  and  disperse.  I 
felt  well  content  with  the  trend  of  events  —  I 
who  wished  to  impress  the  public  and  the  finan 
ciers  that  I  had  broken  with  speculation  and 
speculators,  could  I  have  had  a  better  than  this 
unexpected  opportunity  sharply  to  define  my  new 
course?  And  as  Textiles,  unsupported,  fell 
toward  the  close  of  the  day,  my  content  rose 
toward  my  normal  high  spirits.  There  was  no 
whisper  in  the  Street  that  I  was  in  trouble;  on  the 
contrary,  the  idea  was  gaining  ground  that  I  had 
really  long  ceased  to  be  a  stock  gambler  and 
deserved  a  much  better  reputation  than  I  had. 
Reputation  is  a  matter  of  diplomacy  rather  than 


"  SHE  HAS  CHOSEN ! "  297 

of  desert.  In  all  my  career  I  was  never  less 
entitled  to  a  good  reputation  than  in  those  June 
days ;  yet  the  disastrous  gambling  follies,  yes,  and 
worse,  I  then  committed,  formed  the  secure  foun 
dation  of  my  reputation  for  conservatism  and 
square  dealing.  From  that  time  dates  the  decline 
of  the  habit  the  newspapers  had  of  speaking  of 
me  as  "  Black  Matt  "  or  "  Matt "  Blacklock.  In 
them,  and  therefore  in  the  public  mind,  I  began 
to  figure  as  "  Mr.  Blacklock,  a  recognized  au 
thority  on  finance,"  and  such  information  as  I 
gave  out  ceased  to  be  described  as  "  tips  "  and 
was  respectfully  referred  to  as  "  indications." 

No  doubt,  my  marriage  had  something  to  do 
with  this.  Probably  one  couldn't  borrow  any 
great  amount  of  money  in  New  York  directly  and 
solely  on  the  strength  of  a  fashionable  mar 
riage;  but,  so  all-pervading  is  the  snobbishness 
there,  one  can  get,  by  making  a  fashionable  mar 
riage,  any  quantity  of  that  deferential  respect 
from  rich  people  which  is,  in  some  circumstances, 
easily  convertible  into  cash  and  credit. 

I  searched  with  a  good  deal  of  anxiety,  as  you 
may  imagine,  the  early  editions  of  the  afternoon 
papers.  The  first  article  my  eye  chanced  upon 
was  a  mere  wordy  elaboration  of  the  brief  and 


298  THE  DELUGE 

vague  announcement  Monson  had  put  in  the  Her 
ald.  Later  came  an  interview  with  old  Ellersly. 
"  Not  at  all  mysterious,"  he  had  said  to  the  re 
porters.  "  Mr.  Blacklock  found  he  would  have 
to  go  abroad  on  business  soon  —  he  didn't  know 
just  when.  On  the  spur  of  the  moment  they  de 
cided  to  marry."  A  good  enough  story,  and  I 
confirmed  it  when  I  admitted  the  reporters.  I 
read  their  estimates  of  my  fortune  and  of  Anita's 
with  rather  bitter  amusement  —  she  whose  father 
was  living  from  hand  to  mouth ;  I  who  could  not 
have  emerged  from  a  forced  settlement  with 
enough  to  enable  me  to  keep  a  trap.  Still,  when 
one  is  rich,  the  reputation  of  being  rich  is  heavily 
expensive;  but  when  one  is  poor  the  reputation 
of  being  rich  can  be  made  a  wealth-giving  asset. 

Even  as  I  was  reading  these  fables  of  my 
millions,  there  lay  on  the  desk  before  me  a  state 
ment  of  the  exact  posture  of  my  affairs  —  a 
memorandum  made  by  myself  for  my  own  eyes, 
and  to  be  burned  as  soon  as  I  mastered  it.  On 
the  face  of  the  figures  the  balance  against  me  was 
appalling.  My  chief  asset,  indeed  my  only  asset 
that  measured  up  toward  my  debts,  was  my  Coal 
stocks,  those  bought  and  those  contracted  for; 
and,  while  their  par  value  far  exceeded  my  lia- 


"  SHE  HAS  CHOSEN !  "  299 

bilities,  they  had  to  appear  in  my  memorandum 
at  their  actual  market  value  on  that  day.  I 
looked  at  the  calendar  —  seventeen  days  until  the 
reorganization  scheme  would  be  announced,  only 
seventeen  days! 

Less  than  three  business  weeks,  and  I  should 
be  out  of  the  storm  and  sailing  safer  and  smoother 
seas  than  I  had  ever  known.  "  To  indulge  in 
vague  hopes  is  bad,"  thought  I,  "  but  not  to  in 
dulge  in  a  hope,  especially  when  one  has  only  it 
between  him  and  the  pit."  And  I  proceeded  to 
plan  on  the  not  unwarranted  assumption  that  my 
Coal  hope  was  a  present  reality.  Indeed,  what 
alternative  had  I  ?  To  put  it  among  the  future's 
uncertainties  was  to  put  myself  among  the  ut 
terly  ruined.  Using  as  collateral  the  Coal  stocks 
I  had  bought  outright,  I  borrowed  more  money, 
and  with  it  went  still  deeper  into  the  Coal  ven 
ture.  Everything  or  nothing !  —  since  the  chances 
in  my  favor  were  a  thousand,  to  practically  none 
against  me.  Everything  or  nothing!  —  since 
only  by  staking  everything  could  I  possibly  save 
anything  at  all. 

The  morality  of  these  and  many  of  my  other 
doings  in  those  days  will  no  doubt  be  condemned. 
By  no  one  more  severely  than  by  myself  —  now 


THE  DELUGE 

that  the  necessities  which  then  compelled  me  have 
passed.  There  is  no  subject  on  which  men  talk 
and  think,  more  humbug  than  on  that  subject  of 
morality.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  except  in  those 
personal  relations  that  are  governed  by  the  af 
fections,  what  is  morality  but  the  mandate  of 
policy,  and  what  is  policy  but  the  mandate  of 
necessity?  My  criticism  of  Roebuck  and  the 
other  "  high  financiers  "  is  not  upon  their  moral 
ity,  but  upon  their  policy,  which  is  short-sighted 
and  stupid  and  base.  The  moral  difference  be 
tween  me  and  them  is  that,  while  I  merely  assert 
and  maintain  my  right  to  live,  they  deny  the 
right  of  any  but  themselves  to  live.  I  say  I 
criticize  them;  but  that  does  not  mean  that  I 
sympathize  with  the  public  at  large  in  its  com 
plainings  against  them.  The  public,  its  stupidity 
and  cupidity,  creates  the  conditions  that  breed 
and  foster  these  men.  A  rotten  cheese  reviling 
the  maggots  it  has  bred! 

In  those  very  hours  when  I  was  obeying  the 
imperative  law  of  self-preservation,  was  clutching 
at  every  log  that  floated  by  me  regardless  of 
whether  it  was  my  property  or  not  so  long  as 
it  would  help  me  keep  my  head  above  water  — • 
what  was  going  on  all  round  me  ?  In  every 


"  SHE  HAS  CHOSEN ! »  301 

office  of  the  down  town  district  —  merchant,, 
banker,  broker,  lawyer,  man  of  commerce  or 
finance  —  was  not  every  busy  brain  plotting,  not 
self-preservation  but  pillage  and  sack — -plotting 
to  increase  the  cost  of  living  for  the  masses  of 
men  by  slipping  a  little  tax  here  and  a  little  tax 
there  on  to  everything  by  which  men  live?  All 
along  the  line  between  the  farm  or  mine  or  shop 
and  the  market,  at  every  one  of  the  toll-gates  for 
the  collection  of  just  charges,  these  big  financiers,, 
backed  up  by  the  big  lawyers  and  the  rascally 
public  officials,  had  an  agent  in  charge  to  collect 
on  each  passing  article  more  than  was  honestly 
due.  A  thousand  subtle  ways  of  levying,  all 
combining  to  pour  in  upon  the  few  the  torrents 
of  unjust  wealth.  I  laugh  when  I  read  of  labor 
ing  men  striking  for  higher  wages.  Poor,  ig 
norant  fools — 'they  almost  deserve  their  fate. 
They  had  better  be  concerning  themselves  with 
a  huge,  universal  strike  at  the  polls  for  lower 
prices.  What  will  it  avail  to  get  higher  wages, 
as  long  as  the  masters  control  and  recoup  on  the 
prices  of  all  the  things  for  which  those  wages 
must  be  spent? 

I  lived  in  Wall  Street,  in  its  atmosphere  of 
the  practical  morality  of  "  finance."     On  every 


302  THE  DELUGE 

side  swindling  operations,  great  and  small ;  opera 
tions  regarded  as  right  through  long-established 
custom;  dishonest  or  doubtful  operations  on  the 
way  to  becoming  established  by  custom  as  "  re 
spectable."  No  man's  title  to  anything  conceded 
unless  he  had  the  brains  to  defend  it.  There  was 
a  time  when  it  would  have  been  regarded  as 
wildly  preposterous  and  viciously  immoral  to  deny 
property  rights  in  human  beings.  There  may 
come  a  time  —  who  knows  ?  —  when  "  high 
finance's  "  denial  of  a  moral  right  to  property  of 
any  kind  may  cease  to  be  regarded  as  wicked; 
may  become  a  generally  accepted  canon,  as  our 
Socialist  friends  predict.  However,  I  attempt 
no  excuses  for  myself;  I  need  them  no  more 
than  a  judge  in  the  Dark  Ages  needed  to  apologize 
for  ordering  a  witch  to  the  stake.  I  could  no 
more  have  done  differently  than  a  fish  could 
breathe  on  land  or  a  man  under  water.  I  did  as 
all  the  others  did  —  and  I  had  the  justification 
of  necessity.  Right  of  might  being  the  pre 
vailing  code,  when  men  set  upon  me  with  pistols, 
I  met  them  with  pistols,  not  with  the  discarded 
and  antiquated  weapons  of  sermon  and  prayer 
and  the  law. 

And  I  thought  extremely  well  of  myself  and  of 


"  SHE  HAS  CHOSEN !  "  303 

my  pistols  that  June  afternoon,  as  I  was  hurrying 
up  town  the  moment  the  day's  settlement  on 
'Change  was  finished.  I  had  sent  out  my  daily 
letter  to  investors,  and  its  tone  of  confidence  was 
genuine  —  I  knew  that  hundreds  of  customers  of 
a  better  class  would  soon  be  flocking  in  to  take 
the  places  of  those  I  had  been  compelled  to  teach 
a  lesson  in  the  vicissitudes  of  gambling.  With  a 
light  heart  and  the  physical  feeling  of  a  football 
player  in  training,  I  sped  toward  home. 

Home !  For  the  first  time  since  I  was  a  squat 
little  slip  of  a  shaver  the  word  had  a  personal 
meaning  for  me.  Perhaps,  if  the  only  other 
home  of  mine  had  been  less  uninviting,  I  should 
not  have  looked  forward  with  such  high  beating 
of  the  heart  to  that  cold  home  Anita  was  making 
for  me.  No,  I  withdraw  that.  It  is  fellows  like 
me,  to  whom  kindly  looks  and  unbought  atten 
tions  are  as  unfamiliar  as  flowers  to  the  Arctic  — 
it  is  men  like  me  that  appreciate  and  treasure  and 
warm  up  under  the  faintest  show  or  shadowy 
suggestion  of  the  sunshine  of  sentiment.  I'd  be 
a  little  ashamed  to  say  how  much  money  I  handed 
out  to  beggars  and  street  gamins  that  day.  I  had 
a  home  to  go  to! 

As  my  electric  drew  up  at  the  Willoughby,  a 


304  THE  DELUGE 

carriage  backed  to  make  room  for  it.  I  recog 
nized  the  horses  and  the  coachman  and  the  crest. 

"  How  long  has  Mrs.  Ellersly  been  with  my 
wife  ?  "  I  asked  the  elevator  boy,  as  he  was  tak 
ing  me  up. 

"  About  half  an  hour,  sir,"  he  answered.  "  But 
Mr.  Ellersley  —  I  took  up  his  card  before  lunch, 
and  he's  still  there." 

Instead  of  using  my  key,  I  rang  the  bell,  and 
when  Sanders  opened,  I  said :  "  Is  Mrs.  Black- 
lock  in  ?  "  in  a  voice  loud  enough  to  penetrate  to 
the  drawing-room. 

As  I  had  hoped,  Anita  appeared.  Her  dress 
told  me  that  her  trunks  had  come  —  she  had  sent 
for  her  trunks !  "  Mother  and  father  are  here," 
said  she,  without  looking  at  me. 

I  followed  her  into  the  drawing-room  and, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  servants,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  El 
lersly  and  I  greeted  each  other  courteously, 
though  Mrs.  Ellersly's  eyes  and  mine  met  in  a 
glance  like  the  flash  of  steel  on  steel.  "  We  were 
just  going,"  said  she,  and  then  I  felt  that  I  had 
arrived  in  the  midst  of  a  tempest  of  uncommon 
fury. 

"  You  must  stop  and  make  me  a  visit,"  pro 
tested  I,  with  elaborate  politeness.  To  myself  I 


u  SHE  HAS  CHOSEN!  "  •  305 

was  assuming  that  they  had  come  to  "  make  up 
and  be  friends  " —  and  resume  their  places  at  the 
trough. 

She  was  moving  toward  the  door,  the  old  man 
in  her  wake.  Neither  of  them  offered  to  shake 
hands  with  me;  neither  made  pretense  of  saying 
good-by  to  Anita,  standing  by  the  window  like  a 
pillar  of  ice.  I  had  closed  the  drawing-room 
door  behind  me,  as  I  entered.  I  was  about  to 
open  it  for  them  when  I  was  restrained  by  what 
I  saw  working  in  the  old  woman's  face.  She 
had  set  her  will  on  escaping  from  my  loathed 
presence  without  a  "scene;"  but  her  rage  at 
having  been  outgeneraled  was  too  fractious  for 
her  will. 

"  You  scoundrel !  "  she  hissed,  her  whole  body 
shaking  and  her  carefully-cultivated  appearance 
of  the  gracious  evening  of  youth  swallowed  up 
in  a  black  cyclone  of  hate.  "  You  gutter-plant  1 
God  will  punish  you  for  the  shame  you  have 
brought  upon  us !  " 

I  opened  the  door  and  bowed,  without  a  word, 
without  even  the  desire  to  return  insult  for  in 
sult —  had  not  Anita  evidently  again  and  finally 
rejected  them  and  chosen  me?  As  they  passed 
into  the  private  hall  I  rang  for  Sanders  to  come 


THE  DELUGE 

and  let  them  out.  When  I  turned  back  into  the 
drawing-room,  Anita  was  seated,  was  reading  a 
book.  I  waited  until  I  saw  she  was  not  going  to 
speak.  Then  I  said :  "  What  time  will  you  have 
dinner  ?  "  But  my  face  must  have  been  express 
ing  some  of  the  joy  and  gratitude  that  filled  me. 
"  She  has  chosen !  "  I  was  saying  to  myself  over 
and  over. 

"  Whenever  you  usually  have  it,"  she  replied, 
without  looking  up. 

"  At  seven  o'clock,  then.  You  had  better  tell 
Sanders." 

I  rang  for  him  and  went  into  my  little  smok 
ing-room.  She  had  resisted  her  parents'  final 
appeal  to  her  to  return  to  them.  She  had  cast 
in  her  lot  with  me.  "  The  rest  can  be  left  to 
time,"  said  I  to  myself.  And,  reviewing  all  that 
had  happened,  I  let  a  wild  hope  send  tenacious 
roots  deep  into  me.  How  often  ignorance  is  a 
blessing;  how  often  knowledge  would  make  the 
step  falter  and  the  heart  quail ! 


XXIV 

BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS 

During  dinner  I  bore  the  whole  burden  of  con 
versation —  though  burden  I  did  not  find  it. 
Like  most  close-mouthed  men,  I  am  extremely 
talkative.  Silence  sets  people  to  wondering  and 
prying;  he  hides  his  secrets  best  who  hides  them 
at  the  bottom  of  a  river  of  words.  If  my  spirits 
are  high,  I  often  talk  aloud  to  myself  when  there 
is  no  one  convenient.  And  how  could  my  spirits 
be  anything  but  high,  with  her  sitting  there 
opposite  me,  mine,  mine  for  better  or  for  worse, 
through  good  and  evil  report  —  my  wife! 

She  was  only  formally  responsive,  reluctant 
and  brief  in  answers,  volunteering  nothing.  The 
servants  waiting  on  us  no  doubt  laid  her  manner 
to  shyness ;  I  understood  it,  or  thought  I  did  — 
but  I  was  not  troubled.  It  is  as  natural  for  me 
to  hope  as  to  breathe ;  and  with  my  knowledge  of 
character,  how  could  I  take  seriously  the  moods 
and  impulses  of  one  whom  I  regarded  as  a  child- 
307 


308  THE  DELUGE 

like  girl,  trained  to  false  pride  and  false  ideals? 
"  She  has  chosen  to  stay  with  me/'  said  I  to  my 
self.  "  Actions  count,  not  words  or  manner.  A 
few  days  or  weeks,  and  she  will  be  herself,  and 
mine."  And  I  went  gaily  on  with  my  efforts 
to  interest  her,  to  make  her  smile  and  forget  the 
role  she  had  commanded  herself  to  play.  Nor 
was  I  wholly  unsuccessful.  Again  and  again 
I  thought  I  saw  a  gleam  of  interest  in  her  eyes 
or  the  beginnings  of  a  smile  about  that  sweet 
mouth  of  hers.  I  was  careful  not  to  overdo  my 
part. 

As  soon  as  we  finished  dessert  I  said :  "  You 
loathe  cigar  smoke,  so  I'll  hide  myself  in  my  den. 
Sanders  will  bring  you  the  cigarettes."  I  had 
myself  telephoned  for  a  supply  of  her  kind  early 
in  the  day. 

She  made  a  polite  protest  for  the  benefit  of 
the  servants ;  but  I  was  firm,  and  left  her  free  to 
think  things  over  alone  in  the  drawing-room — - 
"your  sitting-room,"  I  called  it.  I  had  not 
finished  a  small  cigar  when  there  came  a  timid 
knock  at  my  door.  I  threw  away  the  cigar  and 
opened.  "  I  thought  it  was  you,"  said  I.  "  I'm 
familiar  with  the  knocks  of  all  the  others.  And 
this  was  new  —  like  a  summer  wind  tapping  with 


BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS    309 

a  flower  for  admission  at  a  closed  window." 
And  I  laughed  with  a  little  raillery,  and  she 
smiled,  colored,  tried  to  seem  cold  and  hostile 
again. 

"  Shall  I  go  with  you  to  your  sitting-room  ?  " 
I  went  on.  "  Perhaps  the  cigar  smoke  here  — " 

"No,  no/'  she  interrupted;  "I  don't  really 
mind  cigars  —  and  the  windows  are  wide  open. 
Besides,  I  came  for  only  a  moment  —  just  to 
say—" 

As  she  cast  about  for  words  to  carry  her  on, 
I  drew  up  a  chair  for  her.  She  looked  at  it 
uncertainly,  seated  herself.  "  When  mama  was 
here  —  this  afternoon,"  she  went  on,  "  she  was 
urging  me  to  —  to  do  what  she  wished.  And 
after  she  had  used  several  arguments,  she  said 
something  I  —  I've  been  thinking  it  over,  and  it 
seemed  I  ought  in  fairness  to  tell  you." 

I  waited. 

"  She  said :  '  In  a  few  days  more  he ' —  that 
meant  you  —  'he  will  be  ruined.  He  imagines 
the  worst  is  over  for  him,  when  in  fact  they've 
only  begun.' ' 

"They!"  I  repeated.  "Who  are  'they'? 
TheLangdons?" 

"  I  think  so,"  she  replied  with  an  effort.     "  She 


3  io  THE  DELUGE 

did  not  say  —  I've  told  you  her  exact  words  — 
as  far  as  I  can." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  and  why  didn't  you  go?  " 

She  pressed  her  lips  firmly  together.  Finally, 
with  a  straight  look  into  my  eyes,  she  replied  °. 
"  I  shall  not  discuss  that.  You  probably  mis 
understand,  but  that  is  your  own  affair." 

"  You  believed  what  she  said  about  me,  of 
course,"  said  I. 

"  I  neither  believed  nor  disbelieved,"  she  an 
swered  indifferently,  as  she  rose  to  go.  "  It  does 
not  interest  me." 

"  Come  here,"  said  I. 

I  waited  until  she  reluctantly  joined  me  at  the 
window.  I  pointed  to  the  steeple  of  the  church 
across  the  way.  "  You  could  as  easily  throw 
down  that  steeple  by  pushing  against  it  with  your 
bare  hands,"  I  said  to  her,  "  as  '  they,'  whoever 
they  are,  could  put  me  down.  They  might  take 
away  my  money.  But  if  they  did,  they  would 
only  be  giving  me  a  lesson  that  would  teach  me 
how  more  easily  to  get  it  back.  I  am  not  a 
bundle  of  stock  certificates  or  a  bag  of  money. 
I  am  —  here,"  and  I  tapped  my  forehead. 

She  forced  a  faint,  scornful  smile.  She  did 
not  wish  me  to  see  her  belief  of  what  I  said. 


BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS 


"  You  may  think  that  is  vanity/'  I  went  on. 
"  But  you  will  learn,  sooner  or  later,  the  difference 
between  boasting  and  simple  statement  of  fact. 
You  will  learn  that  I  do  not  boast.  What  I  said 
is  no  more  a  boast  than  for  a  man  with  legs  to 
say,  '  I  can  walk/  Because  you  have  known 
only  legless  men,  you  exaggerate  the  difficulty 
of  walking.  It's  as  easy  for  me  to  make  money 
as  it  is  for  some  people  to  spend  it." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  say  I  was  not 
insinuating  anything  against  her  people.  But 
she  was  just  then  supersensitive  on  the  subject, 
though  I  did  not  suspect  it.  She  flushed  hotly. 
"  You  will  not  have  any  cause  to  sneer  at  my 
people  on  that  account  hereafter,"  she  said.  '*  I 
settled  that  to-day." 

"  I  was  not  sneering  at  them/'  I  protested.  "  I 
wasn't  even  thinking  of  them.  And  —  you  must 
know  that  it's  a  favor  to  me  for  anybody  to  ask 
me  to  do  anything  that  will  please  you  —  Anita  !  " 

She  made  a  gesture  of  impatience.  "  I  see  I'd 
better  tell  you  why  I  did  not  go  with  them  to-day. 
I  insisted  that  they  give  back  all  they  have  taken 
from  you.  And  when  they  refused,  I  refused  to 
go."  " 

"  I  don't  care  why  you  refused,  or  imagined 


312 


THE  DELUGE 


you  refused/'  said  I.  "  I  am  content  with  the 
fact  that  you  are  here." 

"  But  you  misunderstand  it,"  she  answered 
coldly. 

"  I  don't  understand  it,  I  don't  misunderstand 
it,"  was  my  reply.  "  I  accept  it." 

She  turned  away  from  the  window,  drifted 
out  of  the  room  —  you,  who  love  or  at  least 
have  loved,  can  imagine  how  it  made  me  feel  to 
see  Her  moving  about  in  those  rooms  of  mine. 

While  the  surface  of  my  mind  was  taken  up 
with  her,  I  must  have  been  thinking,  underneath, 
of  the  warning  she  had  brought;  for,  perhaps 
half  or  three-quarters  of  an  hour  after  she  left, 
I  was  suddenly  whirled  out  of  my  reverie  at  the 
window  by  a  thought  like  a  pistol  thrust  into  my 
face.  ".What  if  'they'  should  include  Roe 
buck  !  "  And  just  as  a  man  begins  to  defend  him 
self  from  a  sudden  danger  before  he  clearly  sees 
what  the  danger  is,  so  I  began  to  act  before  I  even 
questioned  whether  my  suspicion  was  plausible 
or  absurb.  I  went  into  the  hall,  rang  the  bell, 
slipped  a  light-weight  coat  over  my  evening  dress 
and  put  on  a  hat.  When  Sanders  appeared,  I 
said :  "  I'm  going  out  for  a  few  minutes  —  per 
haps  an  hour  —  if  any  one  should  ask."  A  mo- 


BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS     313 

ment  later  I  was  in  a  hansom  and  on  the  way  to 
Roebuck's. 

When  Roebuck  lived  near  Chicago,  he  had  a 
huge  house,  a  sort  of  crude  palace  such  as  so 
many  of  our  millionaires  built  for  themselves  in 
the  first  excitement  of  their  new  wealth  —  a 
house  with  porches  and  balconies  and  towers  and 
minarets  and  all  sorts  of  gingerbread  effects  to 
compel  the  eye  of  the  passer-by.  But  when  he 
became  enormously  rich,  so  rich  that  his  name 
was  one  of  the  synonyms  for  wealth,  so  rich  that 
people  said  "  rich  as  Roebuck  "  where  they  used 
to  say  "  rich  as  Croesus,"  he  cut  away  every  kind 
of  ostentation,  and  avoided  attention. 

He  took  advantage  of  his  having  to  remove 
to  New  York  where  his  vast  interests  centered; 
he  bought  a  small  and  commonplace  and,  for  a 
rich  man,  even  mean  house  in  East  Fifty-Second 
Street  —  one  of  a  row,  and  an  almost  dingy  look 
ing  row  at  that.  There  he  had  an  establishment 
a  man  with  one-fiftieth  of  his  fortune  would  have 
felt  like  apologizing  for.  To  his  few  intimates 
who  were  intimate  enough  to  question  him  about 
his  come-down  from  his  Chicago  splendors  he 
explained  that  he  was  seeing  with  clearer  eyes  his 


314  THE  DELUGE 

responsibilities  as  a  steward  of  the  Lord,  that 
luxury  was  sinful,  that  no  man  had  a  right  to 
waste  the  Lord's  money. 

The  general  theory  about  him  was  that  ad 
vancing  years  had  developed  his  natural  closeness 
into  the  stingiest  avariciousness.  But  my  notion 
is  he  was  impelled  by  the  fear  of  exciting  envy, 
by  the  fear  of  assassination  —  the  fear  that  made 
his  eyes  roam  restlessly  whenever  strangers  were 
near  him,  and  so  dried  up  the  inside  of  his  body 
that  his  dry  tongue  was  constantly  sliding  along 
his  dry  lips.  I  have  seen  a  convict  stand  in  the 
door  of  his  cell  and,  though  it  was  impossible 
that  any  one  could  be  behind  him,  look  nervously 
over  his  shoulder  every  moment  or  so.  Roebuck 
had  the  same  trick — -only  his  dread,  I  suspect, 
was  not  the  officers  of  the  law,  even  of  the  divine 
law,  but  the  many,  many  victims  of  his  merciless 
execution  of  "  the  Lord's  will." 

This  state  of  mind  is  not  uncommon  among 
the  very  rich  men,  especially  those  who  have 
come  up  from  poverty.  Those  who  have  in 
herited  great  wealth,  and  have  always  been  used 
to  it,  get  into  the  habit  of  looking  upon  the  mass 
of  mankind  as  inferiors,  and  move  about  with  no 
greater  sense  of  peril  than  a  man  has  in  venturing 


BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS 

among  a  lot  of  dogs  with  tails  wagging.  But 
those  who  were  born  poor  and  have  risen  under 
the  stimulus  of  a  furious  envy  of  the  comfortable 
and  the  rich,  fancy  that  everybody  who  isn't  rich 
has  the  same  savage  hunger  that  they  them 
selves  had,  and  is  ready  to  use  similar  desperate 
methods  in  gratifying  it.  Thus,  where  the  rich 
of  the  Langdon  sort  are  supercilious,  the  rich  of 
the  Roebuck  sort  are  nervous  and  often  become 
morbid  on  the  subject  of  assassination  as  they 
grow  richer  and  richer. 

The  door  of  Roebuck's  house  was  opened  for 
me  by  a  maid  —  a  man-servant  would  have  been 
a  "  sinful "  luxury,  a  man-servant  might  be  the 
hireling  of  plotters  against  his  life.  I  may  add 
that  she  looked  the  cheap  maid-of-all-work,  and 
her  manners  were  of  the  free  and  fresh  sort 
that  indicates  a  feeling  that  as  high,  or  higher, 
wages,  and  less  to  do  could  be  got  elsewhere. 

"  I  don't  think  you  can  see  Mr.  Roebuck,"  she 
said. 

"  Take  my  card  to  him,"  I  ordered,  "  and  I'll 
wait  in  the  parlor." 

"  Parlor's  in  use,"  she  retorted  with  a  sar 
castic  grin,  which  I  was  soon  to  understand. 

So  I  stood  by  the  old-fashioned  coat  and  hat 


2 1 6  THE  DELUGE 

rack  while  she  went  in  at  the  hall  door  of  the 
back  parlor.  Soon  Roebuck  himself  came  out, 
his  glasses  on  his  nose,  a  family  Bible  under  his 
arm.  "  Glad  to  see  you,  Matthew,"  said  he  with 
saintly  kindliness,  giving  me  a  friendly  hand. 
"  We  are  just  about  to  offer  up  our  evening 
prayer.  Come  right  in." 

I  followed  him  into  the  back  parlor.  Both  it 
and  the  front  parlor  were  lighted ;  in  a  sort  of  cir 
cle  extending  into  both  rooms  were  all  the  Roe 
bucks  and  the  four  servants.  "  This  is  my 
friend,  Matthew  Blacklock,"  said  he,  and  the 
Roebucks  in  the  circle  gravely  bowed.  He  drew 
up  a  chair  for  me,  and  we  seated  ourselves. 
Amid  a  solemn  hush,  he  read  a  chapter  from  the 
big  Bible  spread  out  upon  his  lean  lap.  My 
glance  wandered  from  face  to  face  of  the  Roe 
bucks,  as  plainly  dressed  as  were  their  servants. 
I  was  able  to  look  freely,  mine  being  the  only 
eyes  not  bent  upon  the  floor. 

It  was  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  had  wit 
nessed  family  prayers.  iWhen  I  was  a  boy  at 
home,  my  mother  had  taken  literally  the  Scrip 
tural  injunction  to  pray  in  secret  —  in  a  closet,  I 
think  the  passage  of  the  Bible  said.  Many  times 
each  day  she  used  to  retire  to  a  closet  under  the 


BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS 

stairway  and  spend  from  one  to  twenty  minutes 
shut  in  there.  But  we  had  no  family  prayers.  I 
was  therefore  deeply  interested  in  what  was  going 
on  in  those  countrified  parlors  of  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  powerful  men  in  the  world  — 
and  this  right  in  the  heart  of  that  district  of  New 
York  where  palaces  stand  in  rows  and  in  blocks,, 
and  where  such  few  churches  as  there  are  resem 
ble  social  clubs  for  snubbing  climbers  and  pat 
ronizing  the  poor. 

It  was  astonishing  how  much  every  Roebuck 
in  that  circle,  even  the  old  lady,  looked  like  Roe 
buck  himself  —  the  same  smug  piety,  the  same 
underfed  appearance  that,  by  the  way,  more  often 
indicates  a  starved  soul  than  a  starved  body. 
One  difference  —  where  his  face  had  the  look 
of  power  that  compels  respect  and,  to  the  shrewd,, 
reveals  relentless  strength  relentlessly  used,  the 
expressions  of  the  others  were  simply  small  and 
mean  and  frost-nipped.  And  that  is  the  rule  — 
the  second  generation  of  a  plutocrat  inherits, 
with  his  money,  the  meanness  that  enabled  him 
to  hoard  it,  but  not  the  scope  that  enabled  him 
to  make  it. 

So  absorbed  was  I  in  the  study  of  the  in 
fluence  of  his  terrible  master-character  upon 


318  THE  DELUGE 

those  closest  to  it,  that  I  started  when  he  said: 
"  Let  us  pray."  I  followed  the  example  of  the 
others,  and  knelt.  The  audible  prayer  was  of 
fered  up  by  his  oldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Wheeler, 
a  widow.  Roebuck  punctuated  each  paragraph 
in  her  series  of  petitions  with  a  loudly-whispered 
amen.  When  she  prayed  for  "  the  stranger 
whom  Thou  has  led  seemingly  by  chance  into 
our  little  circle,"  he  whispered  the  amen  more  fer 
vently  and  repeated  it.  And  well  he  might,  the 
old  robber  and  assassin  by  proxy!  The  prayer 
ended  and,  us  on  our  feet,  the  servants  withdrew ; 
then,  awkardly,  all  the  family  except  Roebuck. 
That  is,  they  closed  the  doors  between  the  two 
rooms  and  left  him  and  me  alone  in  the  front 
parlor. 

"  I  shall  not  detain  you  long,  Mr.  Roebuck/' 
said  I.  "  A  report  reached  me  this  evening  that 
sent  me  to  you  at  once/' 

"  If  possible,  Matthew,"  said  he,  and  he  could 
not  hide  his  uneasiness,  "  put  off  business  until 
to-morrow.  My  mind  —  yours,  too,  I  trust  — 
is  not  in  the  frame  for  that  kind  of  thoughts 


now." 


"  Is  the  Coal  organization  to  be  announced  the 
first  of  July?  "  I  demanded.     It  has  always  been, 


BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS 

and  always  shall  be,  my  method  to  fight  in  the 
open.  This,  not  from  principle,  but  from  expe 
diency.  Some  men  fight  best  in  the  brush;  I 
don't.  So  I  always  begin  battle  by  shelling  the 
woods. 

"  No,"  he  said,  amazing  me  by  his  instant 
frankness.  "  The  announcement  has  been  post 
poned." 

Why  did  he  not  lie  to  me?  Why  did  he  not 
put  me  off  the  scent,  as  he  might  easily  have 
done,  with  some  shrewd  evasion?  I  suspected  I 
owed  it  to  my  luck  in  catching  him  at  family  pray 
ers.  For  I  know  that  the  general  impression  of 
him  is  erroneous;  he  is  not  merely  a  hypocrite 
before  the  world,  but  also  a  hypocrite  before 
himself.  A  more  profoundly,  piously  conscien 
tious  man  never  lived.  Never  was  there  a  truer 
epitaph  than  the  one  implied  in  the  sentence 
carved  over  his  niche  in  the  magnificent  mauso 
leum  he  built :  "  Fear  naught  but  the  Lord." 

"  When  will  the  reorganization  be  announc 
ed?  "I  asked. 

"  I  can  not  say,"  he  answered.  "  Some  dif 
ficulties  —  chiefly  labor  difficulties  —  have  arisen. 
Until  they  are  settled,  nothing  can  be  done. 
Come  to  me  to-morrow,  and  we'll  talk  about  it.'* 


320  THE  DELUGE 

"  That  is  all  I  wished  to  know/'  said  I,  with  a 
friendly,  easy  smile.  "  Good  night." 

It  was  his  turn  to  be  astonished  —  and  he 
showed  it,  where  I  had  given  not  a  sign. 
"  What  was  the  report  you  heard  ?  "  he  asked, 
to  detain  me. 

"  That  you  and  Mowbray  Langdon  had  con 
spired  to  ruin  me,"  said  I,  laughing. 

He  echoed  my  laugh  rather  hollowly.  "  It  was 
hardly  necessary  for  you  to  come  to  me  about 
such  a  —  a  statement." 

"  Hardly/'  I  answered  dryly.  Hardly,  indeed! 
For  I  was  seeing  now  all  that  I  had  been  hiding 
from  myself  since  I  became  infatuated  with 
Anita  and  made  marrying  her  my  only  real  busi 
ness  in  life. 

We  faced  each  other,  each  measuring  the 
other.  And  as  his  glance  quailed  before  mine, 
I  turned  away  to  conceal  my  exultation.  In  a 
comparison  of  resources  this  man  who  had  plot 
ted  to  crush  me  was  to  me  as  giant  to  midget. 
But  I  had  the  joy  of  realizing  that  man  to  man, 
I  was  the  stronger.  He  had  craft,  but  I  had 
daring.  His  vast  wealth  aggravated  his  natural 
cowardice — -crafty  men  are  invariably  cowards, 
and  their  audacities  under  the  compulsion  of  their 


BLACKLOCK  ATTENDS  FAMILY  PRAYERS     321 

ravenous  greed  are  like  a  starving1  jackal's 
dashes  into  danger  for  food.  My  wealth  be 
longed  to  me,  not  I  to  it;  and,  stripped  of  it,  I 
would  be  like  the  prize-fighter  stripped  for  the 
fight.  Finally,  he  was  old,  I  young.  And  there 
was  the  chief  reason  for  his  quailing.  He  knew 
that  he  must  die  long  before  me,  that  my  turn 
must  come,  that  I  could  dance  upon  his  grave. 


XXV 

"MY  WIFE  MUST  !  " 

As  I  drove  away,  I  was  proud  of  myself.  I 
had  listened  to  my  death  sentence  with  a  face  so 
smiling  that  he  must  almost  have  believed  me 
unconscious;  and  also,  it  had  not  even  entered  my 
head,  as  I  listened,  to  beg  for  mercy.  Not  that 
there  would  have  been  the  least  use  in  begging; 
as  well  try  to  pray  a  statue  into  life,  as  try  to 
soften  that  set  will  and  purpose.  Still,  many  a 
man  would  have  weakened  —  and  I  had  not 
weakened.  But  when  I  was  once  more  in  my 
apartment  —  in  ow  apartment  —  perhaps  I  did 
show  that  there  was  a  weak  streak  through  me. 
I  fought  against  the  impulse  to  see  her  once 
more  that  night ;  but  I  fought  in  vain.  I  knocked 
at  the  door  of  her  sitting-room  —  a  timid  knock, 
for  me.  No  answer.  I  knocked  again,  more 
loudly  —  then  a  third  time,  still  more  loudly. 
The  door  opened  and  she  stood  there,  like  one  of 
the  angels  that  guarded  the  gates  of  Eden  after 

322 


"MY  WIFE  MUST!"  323 

the  fall.  Only,  instead  of  a  flaming  sword,  hers 
was  of  ice.  She  was  in  a  dressing-gown  or  tea- 
gown,  white  and  clinging  and  full  of  intoxicating 
hints  and  glimpses  of  all  the  beauties  of  her  fig 
ure.  Her  face  softened  as  she  continued  to  look 
at  me,  and  I  entered. 

"  No  —  please  don't  turn  on  any  more 
lights/'  I  said,  as  she  moved  toward  the  elec 
tric  buttons.  "  I  just  came  in  to  —  to  see  if  I 
could  do  anything  for  you."  In  fact,  I  had 
come,  longing  for  her  to  do  something  for  me, 
to  show  in  look  or  tone  or  act  some  sympathy 
for  me  in  my  loneliness  and  trouble. 

"  No,  thank  you,"  she  said.  Her  voice  seemed 
that  of  a  stranger  who  wished  to  remain  a 
stranger.  And  she  was  evidently  waiting  for 
me  to  go.  You  will  see  what  a  mood  I  was  in 
when  I  say  I  felt  as  I  had  not  since  I,  a  very 
small  boy  indeed,  ran  away  from  home;  I  came 
back  fhrough  the  chilly  night  to  take  one  last 
glimpse  of  the  family  that  would  soon  be  realiz 
ing  how  foolishly  and  wickedly  unappreciative 
they  had  been  of  such  a  treasure  as  I ;  and  when 
I  saw  them  sitting  about  the  big  fire  in  the 
lamp-light,  heartlessly  comfortable  and  uncon 
cerned,  it  was  all  I  could  do  to  keep  back  the 


324  THE  DELUGE 

tears  of  strong  self-pity  —  and  I  never  saw  them 
again. 

"  I've  seen  Roebuck,"  said  I  to  Anita,  because 
I  must  say  something,  if  I  was  to  stay  on. 

"Roebuck?"  she  inquired.  Her  tone  re 
minded  me  that  his  name  conveyed  nothing  to 
her. 

"  He  and  I  are  in  an  enterprise  together,"  I 
explained.  "  He  is  the  one  man  who  could  seri 
ously  cripple  me." 

"  Oh,"  she  said,  and  her  indifference,  forced 
though  I  thought  it,  wounded. 

"  Vv'ell,"  said  I,  "  your  mother  was  right." 

She  turned  full  toward  me,  and  even  in  the 
dimness  I  saw  her  quick  sympathy  —  an  impulsive 
flash  instantly  gone.  But  it  had  been  there ! 

"  I  came  in  here,"  I  went  on,  "  to  say  that — < 
Anita,  it  doesn't  in  the  least  matter.  No  one  in 
this  world,  no  one  and  nothing,  could  hurt  me 
except  through  you.  So  long  as  J  have  you, 
they — -the  rest  —  all  of  them  together  —  can't 
touch  me." 

We  were  both  silent  for  several  minutes. 
Then  she  said,  and  her  voice  was  like  the  smooth 
surface  of  the  river  where  the  boiling  rapids  run 
deep :  "  But  you  haven't  me  —  and  never  shall 


"MY  WIFE  MUST!* 


325 


have.  I've  told  you  that.  I  warned  you  long 
ago.  No  doubt  you  will  pretend,  and  people 
will  say,  that  I  left  you  because  you  lost  your 
money.  But  it  won't  be  so." 

I  was  beside  her  instantly,  was  looking  into 
her  face.  "  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  I  asked,  and 
I  did  not  speak  gently. 

She  gazed  at  me  without  flinching.  "  And  I 
suppose,"  she  said  satirically,  "  you  wonder  why 
I  — •  why  you  are  repellent  to  me.  Haven't  you 
learned  that,  though  I  may  have  been  made  into 
a  moral  coward,  I'm  not  a  physical  coward? 
Don't  bully  and  threaten.  It's  useless." 

I  put  my  hand  strongly  on  her  shoulder  — 
taunts  and  jeers  do  not  turn  me  aside.  "  What 
did  you  mean?  "  I  repeated. 

"  Take  your  hand  off  me,"  she  commanded. 

"  What  did  you  mean  ?  "  I  repeated  sternly. 
*'  Don't  be  afraid  to  answer/' 

She  was  Very  young  —  so  the  taunt  stung  her. 
<€  I  was  about  to  tell  you,"  said  she,  "  when  you 
began  to  make  it  impossible." 

I  took  advantage  of  this  to  extricate  myself 
from  the  awkward  position  in  which  she  had  put 
me  —  I  took  my  hand  from  her  shoulder. 

"  I  am  going  to  leave  you,"  she  announced. 


326  THE  DELUGE 

"  You  forget  that  you  are  my  wife,"  said  I. 

"  I  am  not  your  wife,"  was  her  answer,  and 
if  she  had  not  looked  so  childlike,  there  in  the 
moonlight  all  in  white,  I  could  not  have  held  my 
self  in  check,  so  insolent  was  the  tone  and  so 
helpless  of  ever  being  able  to  win  her  did  she 
make  me  feel. 

"  You  are  my  wife  and  you  will  stay  here  with 
me,"  I  reiterated,  my  brain  on  fire. 

"  I  am  my  own,  and  I  shall  go  where  I  please, 
and  do  what  I  please,"  was  her  contemptuous  re 
tort.  "Why  won't  you  be  reasonable?  Why 
won't  you  see  how  utterly  unsuited  we  are?  I 
don't  ask  you  to  be  a  gentleman  —  but  just  a 
man,  and  be  ashamed  even  to  wish  to  detain  a 
woman  against  her  will." 

I  drew  up  a  chair  so  close  to  her  that  to  retreat, 
she  was  forced  to  sit  in  the  broad  window-seat. 
Then  I  seated  myself.  "  By  all  means,  let  us 
be  reasonable,"  said  I.  "  Now,  let  me  explain 
my  position.  I  have  heard  you  and  your  friends 
discussing  the  views  of  marriage  you've  just  been 
expressing.  Their  views  may  be  right,  may 
be  more  civilized,  more  '  advanced '  than  mine. 
No  matter.  They  are  not  mine.  I  hold  by  the 
old  standards  —  and  you  are  my  wife  —  mine. 


"  MY  WIFE  MUST ! "  327 

Do  you  understand  ?  "  All  this  as  tranquilly  as 
if  we  were  discussing  fair  weather.  "And  you 
will  live  up  to  the  obligation  which  the  marriage 
service  has  put  upon  you." 

She  might  have  been  a  marble  statue  pedes 
taled  in  that  window  seat. 

"  You  married  me  of  your  own  free  will  — 
for  you  could  have  protested  to  the  preacher  and 
he  would  have  sustained  you.  You  tacitly  put 
certain  conditions  on  our  marriage.  I  assented  to 
them.  I  have  respected  them.  I  shall  continue 
to  respect  them.  But  —  when  you  married  me, 
you  didn't  marry  a  dawdling  dude  chattering  '  ad 
vanced  ideas '  with  his  head  full  of  libertinism. 
You  married  a  man.  And  that  man  is  your  hus 
band." 

I  waited,  but  she  made  no  comment  —  not 
even  by  gesture  or  movement.  She  simply  sat, 
her  hands  interlaced  in  her  lap,  her  eyes  straight 
upon  mine. 

"You  say  let  us  be  reasonable,"  I  went  on. 
"  Well,  let  us  be  reasonable.  There  may  come  a 
time  when  woman  can  be  free  and  independent, 
but  that  time  is  a  long  way  off  yet.  The  world 
is  organized  on  the  basis  of  every  woman's  having 
a  protector  —  of  every  decent  woman's  having  a 


THE  DELUGE 

husband,  unless  she  remains  in  the  home  of  some 
of  her  blood-relations.  There  may  be  women 
strong  enough  to  set  the  world  at  defiance.  But 
you  are  not  one  of  them  —  and  you  know  it. 
You  have  shown  it  to  yourself  again  and  again 
in  the  last  forty-eight  hours.  Your  bringing-up 
has  kept  you  a  child  in  real  knowledge  of  real 
life,  as  distinguished  from  the  life  in  that  fashion 
able  hothouse.  If  you  tried  to  assert  your  so- 
called  independence,  you  would  be  the  easy  prey 
of  a  scoundrel  or  scoundrels.  When  I,  who 
have  lived  in  the  thick  of  the  fight  all  my  life, 
who  have  learned  by  many  a  surprise  and  defeat 
never  to  sleep  except  with  the  sword  and  gun  in 
hand,  and  one  eye  open  —  when  I  have  been 
trapped  as  Roebuck  and  Langdon  have  just 
trapped  me  —  what  chance  would  a  woman  like 
you  have?  " 

She  did  not  answer  or  change  expression. 

"  Is  what  I  say  reasonable  or  unreasonable  ?  " 
I  asked  gently. 

"  Reasonable  —  from  your  standpoint,"  she 
said. 

She  gazed  out  into  the  moonlight,  up  into  the 
sky.  And  at  the  look  in  her  face,  the  primeval 
savage  in  me  strained  to  close  round  that  slender 


"MY  WIFE  MUST  I"  329 

white  throat  of  hers  and  crush  and  crush  until  it 
had  killed  in  her  the  thought  of  that  other  man 
which  was  transforming  her  from  marble  to  flesh 
that  glowed  and  blood  that  surged.  I  pushed 
back  my  chair  with  a  sudden  noise;  by  the  way 
she  trembled  I  gaged  how  tense  her  nerves  must 
be.  I  rose  and,  in  a  fairly  calm  tone,  said :  "  .We 
understand  each  other  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  she  answered.  "  As  before." 
I  ignored  this.  "  Think  it  over,  Anita,"  I 
urged  —  she  seemed  to  me  so  like  a  sweet,  spoil 
ed  child  again.  I  longed  to  go  straight  at  her 
about  that  other  man.  I  stood  for  a  moment 
with  Tom  Langdon's  name  on  my  lips,  but  I 
•could  not  trust  myself.  I  went  away  to  my  own 
rooms. 

I  thrust  thoughts  of  her  from  my  mind.  I 
spent  the  night  gnawing  upon  the  ropes  with 
which  Mowbray  Langdon  and  Roebuck  had 
bound  me,  hand  and  foot.  I  now  saw  they  were 
ropes  of  steel  —  and  it  had  long  been  broad  day 
before  I  found  that  weak  strand  which  is  in  every 
rope  of  human  make. 


XXVI 

THE  WEAK  STRAND 

No  sane  creature,  not  even  a  sane  bulldog,  will 
fight  simply  from  love  of  fighting.  When  a  man 
is  attacked,  he  may  be  sure  he  has  excited  either 
fear  or  cupidity,  or  both.  As  far  as  I  could  see, 
it  was  absurd  that  cupidity  was  inciting  Langdon 
and  Roebuck  against  me.  I  hadn't  enough  to 
tempt  them.  Thus,  I  was  forced  to  conclude 
that  I  must  possess  a  strength  of  which  I  was 
unaware,  and  which  stirred  even  Roebuck's  fears. 
But  what  could  it  be? 

Besides  Langdon  and  Roebuck  and  me  there 
were  six  principals  in  the  proposed  Coal  combine, 
three  of  them  richer  and  more  influential  in  fi 
nance  than  even  Langdon,  all  of  them  except  pos 
sibly  Dykeman,  the  lawyer  or  navigating  officer 
of  the  combine,  more  formidable  figures  than  I. 
Yet  none  of  these  men  was  being  assailed. 
"  Why  am  I  singled  out?  "  I  asked  myself,  and  I 
felt  that  if  I  could  answer,  I  should  find  I  had 
330 


THE  WEAK  STRAND  33 1 

the  means  wholly  or  partly  to  defeat  them.  But 
I  could  not  explain  to  my  satisfaction  even 
Langdon's  activities  against  me.  I  felt  that 
Anita  was  somehow,  in  part  at  least,  the  cause; 
but,  even  so,  how  had  he  succeeded  in  convincing 
Roebuck  that  I  must  be  clipped  and  plucked  into 
a  groundling? 

"  It  must  have  something  to  do  with  the  Man- 
asquale  mines,"  I  decided.  "  I  thought  I  had 
given  over  my  control  of  them,  but  somehow  I 
must  still  have  a  control  that  makes  me  too 
powerful  for  Roebuck  to  be  at  ease  so  long  as  I 
am  afoot  and  armed."  And  I  resolved  to  take 
my  lawyers  and  search  the  whole  Manasquale 
transaction  —  to  explore  it  from  attic  to  under 
neath  the  cellar  flooring.  "  We'll  go  through 
it,"  said  I,  "  like  ferrets  through  a  ship's  hold." 

As  I  was  finishing  breakfast,  Anita  came  in. 
She  had  evidently  slept  well,  and  I  regarded 
that  as  ominous.  At  her  age,  a  crisis  means  lit 
tle  sleep  until  a  decision  has  been  reached.  I  rose, 
but  her  manner  warned  me  not  to  advance  and 
try  to  shake  hands  with  her. 

"  I  have  asked  Alva  to  stop  with  me  here  for 
a  few  days,"  she  said  formally. 

"Alva!"   said  I,   much  surprised.     She  had 


332  THE  DELUGE 

not  asked  one  of  her  own  friends ;  she  had  asked 
a  girl  she  had  met  less  than  two  days  before,  and 
that  girl  my  partner's  daughter. 

"  She  was  here  yesterday  morning,"  Anita  ex 
plained.  And  I  now  wondered  how  much  Alva 
there  was  in  Anita's  firm  stand  against  her 
parents. 

"Why  don't  you  take  her  down  to  our  place 
on  Long  Island  ? "  said  I,  most  carefully  con 
cealing  my  delight  —  for  Alva  near  her  meant  a 
friend  of  mine  and  an  advocate  and  example  of 
real  womanhood  near  her.  "  Everything's 
ready  for  you  there,  and  I'm  going  to  be  busy 
the  next  few  days  —  busy  day  and  night." 

She  reflected.  "Very  well/'  she  assented 
presently.  And  she  gave  me  a  puzzled  glance 
she  thought  I  did  not  see  —  as  if  she  were  won 
dering  whether  the  enemy  was  not  hiding  new 
and  deeper  guile  under  an  apparently  harmless 
suggestion. 

"  Then  I'll  not  see  you  again  for  several  days," 
said  I,  most  businesslike.  "If  you  want  any 
thing,  there  will  be  Monson  out  at  the  stables 
where  he  can't  annoy  you.  Or  you  can  get  me 
on  the  '  long  distance.'  Good-by.  Good  luck." 

And  I  nodded  carelessly  and  friendlily  to  her, 


THE  WEAK  STRAND 

and  went  away,  enjoying  the  pleasure  of  having 
startled  her  into  visible  astonishment  "  There's 
a  better  game  than  icy  hostility,  you  very  young, 
young  lady,"  said  I  to  myself,  "  and  that  game  is 
friendly  indifference." 

Alva  would  be  with  her.  So  she  was  secure 
for  the  present  and  my  mind  was  free  for 
"  finance." 

At  that  time  the  two  most  powerful  men  in 
finance  were  Galloway  and  Roebuck.  In  Spain 
I  once  saw  a  fight  between  a  bull  and  a  tiger — • 
or,  rather  the  beginning  of  a  fight.  They  were 
released  into  a  huge  iron  cage.  After  circling  it 
several  times  in  the  same  direction,  searching  for 
a  way  out,  they  came  face  to  face.  The  bull 
tossed  the  tiger;  the  tiger  clawed  the  bull.  The 
bull  roared;  the  tiger  screamed.  Each  retreated 
to  his  own  side  of  the  cage.  The  bull  pawed  and 
snorted  as  if  he  could  hardly  wait  to  get  at  the 
tiger ;  the  tiger  crouched  and  quivered  and  glared 
murderously,  as  if  he  were  going  instantly  to 
spring  upon  the  bull.  But  the  bull  did  not  rush, 
neither  did  the  tiger  spring.  That  was  the  Roe 
buck-Galloway  situation. 

How  to  bait  Tiger  Galloway  to  attack  Bull  Roe 
buck —  that  was  the  problem  I  must  solve,  and 


234  THE  DELUGE 

solve  straightway.  If  I  could  bring  about  war 
between  the  giants,  spreading  confusion  over  the 
whole  field  of  finance  and  filling  all  men  with 
dread  and  fear,  there  was  a  chance,  a  bare 
chance,  that  in  the  confusion  I  might  bear  off 
part  of  my  fortune.  Certainly,  conditions  would 
result  in  which  I  could  more  easily  get  myself 
intrenched  again;  then,  too,  there  would  be  a 
by  no  means  small  satisfaction  in  seeing  Roe 
buck  clawed  and  bitten  in  punishment  for  having 
plotted  against  me. 

Mutual  fear  had  kept  these  two  at  peace  for 
five  years,  and  most  considerate  and  polite  about 
each  other's  "  rights."  But  while  our  country's 
industrial  territory  is  vast,  the  interests  of  the 
few  great  controllers  who  determine  wages  and 
prices  for  all  are  equally  vast,  and  each  plutocrat 
is  tormented  incessantly  by  jealousy  and  sus 
picion;  not  a  day  passes  without  conflicts  of  in 
terest  that  adroit  diplomacy  could  turn  into 
ferocious  warfare.  And  in  this  matter  of  mo 
nopolizing  the  coal,  despite  Roebuck's  earnest 
assurances  to  Galloway  that  the  combine  was 
purely  defensive,  and  was  really  concerned  only 
with  the  labor  question,  Galloway,  a  great  manu 
facturer,  or,  rather,  a  huge  levier  of  the  taxes 


THE  WEAK  STRAND  335 

of  dividends  and  interest  upon  manufacturing  en 
terprises,  could  not  but  be  uneasy. 

Before  I  rose  that  morning  I  had  a  tentative 
plan  for  stirring  him  to  action.  I  was  elaborat 
ing  it  on  the  way  down  town  in  my  electric.  It 
shows  how  badly  Anita  was  crippling  my  brain, 
that  not  until  I  was  almost  at  my  office  did  it  occur 
to  me :  "  That  was  a  tremendous  luxury  Roe 
buck  indulged  his  conscience  in  last  night  It 
isn't  like  him  to  forewarn  a  man,  even  when  he's 
sure  he  can't  escape.  Though  his  prayers  were 
hot  in  his  mouth,  still,  it's  strange  he  didn't  try 
tc  fool  me.  In  fact,  it's  suspicious.  In  fact  — " 

Suspicious?  The  instant  the  idea  was  fairly 
before  my  mind,  I  knew  I  had  let  his  canting  fool 
me  once  more.  I  entered  my  offices,  feeling  that 
the  blow  had  already  fallen ;  and  I  was  surprised, 
but  not  relieved,  when  I  found  everything  calm. 
"  But  fall  it  will  within  an  hour  or  so  —  before 
I  can  move  to  avert  it,"  said  I  to  myself. 

And  fall  it  did.  At  eleven  o'clock,  just  as  I 
was  setting  out  to  make  my  first  move  toward 
heating  old  Galloway's  heels  for  the  war-path, 
Joe  came  in  with  the  news :  "A  general  lockout's 
declared  in  the  coal  regions.  The  operators  have 
stolen  a  march  on  the  men  who,  so  they  allege, 


^36  ™E  DELUGE 

were  secretly  getting  ready  to  strike.  By  night 
every  coal  road  will  be  tied  up  and  every  mine 
shut  down." 

Joe  knew  our  coal  interests  were  heavy,  but 
he  did  not  dream  his  news  meant  that  before  the 
day  was  over  we  would  be  bankrupt  and  not  able 
to  pay  fifteen  cents  on  the  dollar.  However,  he 
knew  enough  to  throw  him  into  a  fever  of  fright. 
He  watched  my  calmness  with  terror.  "  Coal 
stocks  are  dropping  like  a  thermometer  in  a  cold 
wave/'  he  said,  like  a  fireman  at  a  sleeper  in  a 
burning  house, 

"  Naturally,"  said  I,  unruffled,  apparently. 
"  What  can  we  do  about  it?  " 

"  We  must  do  something !  "  he  exclaimed. 

"  Yes,  we  must,"  I  admitted.  "  For  instance, 
we  must  keep  cool,  especially  when  two  or  three 
dozen  people  are  watching  us.  Also,  you  must 
attend  to  your  usual  routine." 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  ? "  he  cried. 
"  For  God's  sake,  Matt,  don't  keep  me  in  sus 
pense  ! " 

"  Go  to  your  desk,"  I  commanded.  And  he 
quieted  down  and  went.  I  hadn't  been  schooling 
him  in  the  fire-drill  for  fifteen  years  in  vain. 

I  went  up  the  street  and  into  the  great  banking 


THE  WEAK  STRAND  337 

and  brokerage  house  of  Galloway  and  Company. 
I  made  my  way  through  the  small  army  of  guards, 
behind  which  the  old  beast  of  prey  was  in 
trenched,  and  into  his  private  den.  There  he  sat, 
at  a  small,  plain  table,  in  the  middle  of  the  room 
without  any  article  of  furniture  in  it  but  his  table 
and  his  chair.  On  the  table  was  a  small  ink 
stand,  perfectly  clean,  a  steel  pen  equally  clean, 
on  the  rest  attached  to  it.  And  that  was  all  — 
not  a  letter,  not  a  scrap  of  paper,  not  a  sign  of 
work  or  of  intention  to  work.  It  might  have  been 
the  desk  of  a  man  who  did  nothing;  in  fact,  it  was 
the  desk  of  a  man  who  had  so  much  to  do  that  his 
only  hope  of  escape  from  being  overwhelmed  was 
to  despatch  and  clear  away  each  matter  the  instant 
it  was  presented  to  him.  Many  things  could  be 
read  from  the  powerful  form,  bolt  upright  in  that 
stiff  chair,  and  from  the  cynical,  masterful  old 
face.  But  to  me  the  chief  quality  there  revealed 
was  that  quality  of  qualities,  decision  —  the  great 
est  power  a  man  can  have,  except  only  courage. 
And  old  James  Galloway  had  both. 

He  respected  Roebuck;  Roebuck  feared  him. 
Roebuck  did  have  some  sort  of  conscience,  dis 
torted  though  it  was,  and  the  dictator  of  savage 
ries  Galloway  would  have  scorned  to  commit. 


338  THE  DELUGE 

Galloway  had  no  professions  of  conscience  —  be* 
yond  such  small  glozing  of  hypocrisy  as  any  man 
must  put  on  if  he  wishes  to  be  intrusted  with  the 
money  of  a  public  that  associates  professions  of 
religion  and  appearances  of  respectability  with 
honesty.  Roebuck's  passion  was  wealth  —  to  see 
the  millions  heap  up  and  up.  Galloway  had  that 
passion,  too  —  I  have  yet  to  meet  a  multi-mil 
lionaire  who  isn't  avaricious  and  even  stingy. 
But  Galloway's  chief  passion  was  power  —  to 
handle  men  as  a  junk  merchant  handles  rags,  to 
plan  and  lead  campaigns  of  conquest  with  his 
golden  legions,  and  to  distribute  the  spoils  like 
an  autocrat  who  is  careless  how  they  are  divided, 
since  all  belongs  to  him,  whenever  he  wishes  to 
claim  it. 

He  pierced  me  with  his  blue  eyes,  keen  as  a 
youth's,  though  Jiis  face  was  seamed  with  scars 
of  seventy  tumultuous  years.  He  extended  to 
ward  me  over  the  table  his  broad,  stubby  white 
hand  —  the  hand  of  a  builder,  of  a  constructive 
genius.  "How  are  you,  Blacklock?"  said  he. 
"What  can  I  do  for  you?"  He  just  touched 
my  hand  before  dropping  it,  and  resumed  that 
idol-like  pose.  But  although  there  was  only  re 
pose  and  deliberation  in  his  manner,  and  not  a 


THE  WEAK  STRAND  339 

suggestion  of  haste,  I,  like  every  one  who  came 
into  that  room  and  that  presence,  had  a  sense  of 
an  interminable  procession  behind  me,  a  proces 
sion  of  men  who  must  be  seen  by  this  master- 
mover,  that  they  might  submit  important  and 
pressing  affairs  to  him  for  decision.  It  was  un 
necessary  for  him  to  tell  any  one  to  be  brief  and 
pointed. 

"  I  shall  have  to  go  to  the  wall  to-day,"  said 
I,  taking  a  paper  from  my  pocket,  "  unless  you 
save  me.  Here  is  a  statement  of  my  assets  and 
liabilities.  I  call  to  your  attention  my  Coal  hold 
ings.  I  was  one  of  the  eight  men  whom  Roebuck 
got  round  him  for  the  new  combine  —  it  is  a 
secret,  but  I  assume  you  know  all  about  it." 

He  laid  the  paper  before  him,  put  on  his  nose- 
glasses  and  looked  at  it. 

"If  you  will  save  me,"  I  continued,  "  I  will 
transfer  to  you,  in  a  block,  all  my  Coal  holdings. 
They  will  be  worth  double  my  total  liabilities 
within  three  months  —  as  soon  as  the  reorganiza 
tion  is  announced.  I  leave  it  entirely  to  your 
sense  of  justice  whether  I  shall  have  any  part  of 
them  back  when  this  storm  blows  over." 

"  Why  didn't  you  go  to  Roebuck?  "  he  asked 
without  looking  up. 


340  THE  DELUGE 


Because  it  is  he  that  has  stuck  the  knife  into 


me." 


"Why?" 

"  I  don't  know.  I  suspect  the  M^nasquale 
properties,  which  I  brought  into  the  combine,  have 
some  value,  which  no  one  but  Roebuck,  and  per 
haps  Langdon,  knows  about  —  and  that  I  in 
some  way  was  dangerous  to  them  through  that 
fact.  They  haven't  given  me  time  to  look  into 
it" 

A  grim  smile  flitted  over  his  face.  "  You've 
been  too  busy  getting  married,  eh  ?  " 

"  Exactly,"  said  I.  "  It's  another  case  of  un 
buckling  for  the  wedding- feast  and  getting  assas 
sinated  as  a  penalty.  Do  you  wish  me  to  explain 
anything  on  that  list  —  do  you  want  any  details 
of  the  combine  —  of  the  Coal  stocks  there?" 

"  Not  necessary,"  he  replied.  As  I  had  thought, 
with  that  enormous  machine  of  his  for  drawing 
in  information,  and  with  that  enormous  memory 
of  his  for  details,  he  probably  knew  more  about 
the  combine  and  its  properties  than  I  did. 

"  You  have  heard  of  the  lockout?"  I  inquired 
—  for  I  wished  him  to  know  I  had  no  intention 
of  deceiving  him  as  to  the  present  market  value 
of  those  stocks. 


THE  WEAK  STRAND  341 

"  Roebuck  has  been  commanded  by  his  God/' 
he  said,  "  to  eject  the  free  American  labor  from 
the  coal  regions  and  to  substitute  importations  of 
coolie  Huns  and  Bohemians.  Thus,  the  wicked 
American  laborers  will  be  chastened  for  trying 
to  get  higher  wages  and  cut  down  a  pious  man's 
dividends;  and  the  downtrodden  coolies  will  be 
brought  where  they  can  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
liberty  and  of  the  preaching  of  Roebuck's  mis 
sionaries." 

I  laughed,  though  he  had  not  smiled,  but  had 
spoken  as  if  stating  colorless  facts.  "  And  right 
eousness  and  Roebuck  will  prevail,"  said  I. 

He  frowned  slightly,  a  sardonic  grin  breaking 
the  straight,  thin,  cruel  line  of  his  lips.  He 
opened  his  table's  one  shallow  drawer,  and  took 
out  a  pad  and  a  pencil.  He  wrote  a  few  words 
on  the  lowest  part  of  the  top  sheet,  folded  it,  tore 
off  the  part  he  had  scribbled  on,  returned  the 
pad  and  pencil  to  the  drawer,  handed  the  scrap 
of  paper  to  me.  "  I  will  do  it,"  he  said.  "  Give 
this  to  Mr.  Farquhar,  second  door  to  the  left. 
Good  morning."  And  in  that  atmosphere  of  vast 
affairs  speedily  despatched  his  consent  without  ar 
gument  seemed,  and  was,  the  matter-of-course. 

I  bowed.    Though  he  had  not  saved  me  as  a 


342  THE  DELUGE 

favor  to  me,  Eut  because  it  fitted  in  with  his 
plans,  whatever  they  were,  my  eyes  dimmed.  "  I 
shan't  forget  this,"  said  I,  my  voice  not  quite 
steady. 

"  I  know  it,"  said  he  curtly.  "  I  know  you." 
I  saw  that  his  mind  had  already  turned  me  out. 
I  said  no  more,  and  withdrew.  When  I  left  the 
room  it  was  precisely  as  it  had  been  when  I 
entered  it  —  except  the  bit  of  paper  torn  from 
the  pad.  But  what  a  difference  to  me,  to  the 
thousands,  the  hundreds  of  thousands  directly  and 
indirectly  interested  in  the  Coal  combine  and 
its  strike  and  its  products,  was  represented  by 
those  few,  almost  illegible  scrawlings  on  that 
scrap  of  paper. 

Not  until  I  had  gone  over  the  situation  with 
Farquhar,  and  we  had  signed  and  exchanged  the 
necessary  papers,  did  I  begin  to  relax  from  the 
strain  —  how  great  that  strain  was  I  realized 
a  few  weeks  later,  when  the  gray  appeared  thick 
at  my  temples  and  there  was  in  my  crown  what 
was,  for  such  a  shock  as  mine,  a  thin  spot.  "  I 
am  saved ! "  said  I  to  myself,  venturing  a  long 
breath,  as  I  stood  on  the  steps  of  Galloway's 
establishment,  where  hourly  was  transacted  busi 
ness  vitally  affecting  the  welfare  of  scores  of 


THE  WEAK  STRAND  343 

millions  of  human  beings,  with  James  Galloway's 
personal  interest  as  the  sole  guiding  principle. 
"  Saved !  "  I  repeated,  and  not  until  then  did  it 
flash  before  me,  "  I  must  have  paid  a  frightful 
price.  He  would  never  have  consented  to  inter 
fere  with  Roebuck  as  soon  as  I  asked  him  to  do 
it,  unless  there  had  been 'some  powerful  motive. 
If  I  had  had  my  wits  about  me,  I  could  have 
made  far  better  terms."  Why  hadn't  I  my  wits 
about  me?  "Anita"  was  my  instant  answer  to 
my  own  question.  "Anita  again.  I  had  a  bad 
attack  of  family  man's  panic."  And  thus  it  came 
about  that  I  went  back  to  my  own  office,  feeling 
as  if  I  had  suffered  a  severe  defeat,  instead  of 
jubilant  over  my  narrow  escape. 

Joe  followed  me  into  my  den.  "  What  luck?  " 
asked  he,  in  the  tone  of  a  mother  waylaying  the 
doctor  as  he  issues  from  the  sick-room. 

"  Luck?  "  said  I,  gazing  blankly  at  him. 

"You've  seen  the  latest  quotation,  haven't 
you  ?  "  In  his  nervousness  his  temper  was  on 
a  fine  edge. 

"  No,"  replied  I  indifferently.  I  sat  down  at 
my  desk  and  began  to  busy  myself.  Then  I  add 
ed  :  "  We're  out  of  the  Coal  combine.  I've  trans 
ferred  our  holdings.  Look  after  these  things, 


344  THE  DELUGE 

please."  And  I  gave  him  the  checks,  notes  and 
memoranda  of  agreement 

"  Galloway !  "  he  exclaimed.  And  then  his  eye 
fell  on  the  totals  of  the  stock  I  had  been  carrying. 
"  Good  God,  Matt !  "  he  gasped.  "  Ruined ! " 

And  he  sat  down,  and  buried  his  face  and  cried 
like  a  child  —  it  was  then  that  I  measured  the 
full  depth  of  the  chasm  I  had  escaped.  I  made  no 
such  exhibition  of  myself,  but  when  I  tried  to 
relight  my  cigar  my  hand  trembled  so  that  the 
flame  scorched  my  lips. 

"  Ruined  ?  "  I  said  to  Joe,  easily  enough.  "  Not 
at  all.  We're  back  in  the  road,  going  smoothly 
ahead  —  only,  at  a  bit  less  stiff  a  pace.  Think, 
Joe,  of  all  those  poor  devils  down  in  the  mining 
districts.  They're  out  —  clear  out  —  arid  thou 
sands  of  'em  don't  know  where  their  families  will 
get  bread.  And  though  they  haven't  found  it  out 
yet,  they've  got  to  leave  the  place  where  they've 
lived  all  their  lives,  and  their  fathers  before  them 
—  have  got  to  go  wandering  about  in  a  world 
that's  as  strange  to  them  as  the  surface  of  the 
moon,  and  as  bare  for  them  as  the  Sahara  desert." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Joe.  "  It's  hard  luck."  But 
I  saw  he  was  thinking  only  of  himself  and  his 
narrow  escape  from  having  to  give  up  his  big 


THE  WEAK  STRAND  345 

house  and  all  the  rest  of  it;  that,  soft-hearted 
and  generous  though  he  was,  to  those  poor  chaps 
and  their  wives  and  children  he  wasn't  giving  a 
thought. 

Wall  Street  never  does  —  they're  too  remote, 
too  vague.  It  deals  with  columns  of  figures  and 
slips  of  paper.  It  never  thinks  of  those  abstrac 
tions  as  standing  for  so  many  hearts  and  so  many 
mouths,  just  as  the  bank  clerk  never  thinks  of 
the  bits  of  metal  he  counts  so  swiftly  as  money 
with  which  things  and  men  could  be  bought.  I 
read  somewhere  once  that  Voltaire  —  I  think  it 
was  Voltaire  — •  asked  a  man  what  he  would  do 
if,  by  pressing  a  button  on  his  table,  he  would  be 
enormously  rich  and  at  the  same  time  would  cause 
the  death  of  a  person  away  off  at  the  other  side 
of  the  earth,  unknown  to  him,  and  probably  no 
more  worthy  to  live,  and  with  no  greater  expecta 
tion  of  life  or  of  happiness  than  the  average  sin 
ful,  short-lived  human  being.  I've  often  thought 
of  that  as  I've  watched  our  great  "  captains  of  in 
dustry."  Voltaire's  dilemma  is  theirs.  And  they 
don't  hesitate ;  they  press  the  button.  I  leave  the 
morality  of  the  performance  to  moralists;  to  me, 
its  chief  feature  is  its  cowardice,  its  sneaking, 
slimy  cowardice. 


346  THE  DELUGE 

"  YouVe  done  a  grand  two  hours'  work,"  said 
Joe. 

"  Grander  than  you  think,"  replied  I.  "  I've 
set  the  tiger  on  to  fight  the  bull." 

"Galloway  and  Roebuck?" 

"Just  that,"  said  I.  And  I  laughed,  started 
up,  sat  down  again.  "  No,  I'll  put  off  the  pleas 
ure,"  said  I.  "  I'll  let  Roebuck  find  out,  when  the 
claws  catch  in  that  toug;h  old  hide  of  his." 


XXVII 

'A  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ANITA 

On  about  the  hottest  afternoon  of  that  summer 
I  had  the  yacht  take  me  down  the  Sound  to  a 
point  on  the  Connecticut  shore  within  sight  of 
Dawn  Hill,  but  seven  miles  farther  from  New 
York.  I  landed  at  the  private  pier  of  Howard 
Forrester,  the  only  brother  of  Anita's  mother. 
As  I  stepped  upon  the  pier  I  saw  a  fine-looking 
old  man  in  the  pavilion  overhanging  the  water. 
He  was  dressed  all  in  white  except  a  sky-blue  tie 
that  harmonized  with  the  color  of  his  eyes.  He 
was  neither  fat  nor  lean,  and  his  smooth  skin 
was  protesting  ruddily  against  the  age  proclaimed 
by  his  wool-white  hair.  He  rose  as  I  came  to 
ward  him,  and,  while  I  was  still  several  yards 
away,  showed  unmistakably  that  he  knew  who 
I  was  and  that  he  was  anything  but  glad  to 
see  me. 

"Mr.  Forrester?"  I  asked. 

He  grew  purple  to  the  line  of  his  thick  white 
347 


348  THE  DELUGE 

hair.  "  It  is,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  said  he.  "  I  have 
the  honor  to  wish  you  good  day,  sir."  And  with 
that  he  turned  his  back  on  me  and  gazed  out 
toward  Long  Island. 

"  I  have  come  to  ask  a  favor  of  you,  sir,"  said 
I,  as  polite  to  that  hostile  back  as  if  I  had  been 
addressing  a  cordial  face.  And  I  waited. 

He  wheeled  round,  looked  at  me  from  head  to 
foot.  I  withstood  the  inspection  calmly ;  when  it 
was  ended  I  noted  that  in  spite  of  himself  he  was 
somewhat  relaxed  from  the  opinion  of  me  he 
had  formed  upon  what  he  had  heard  and  read. 
But  he  said :  "  I  do  not  know  you,  sir,  and  I 
do  not  wish  to  know  you." 

r<  You  have  made  me  painfully  aware  of  that," 
replied  I.  "  But  I  have  learned  not  to  take  snap 
judgments  too  seriously.  I  never  go  to  a  man 
unless  I  have  something  to  say  to  him,  and  I 
never  leave  until  I  have  said  it." 

"  I  perceive,  sir,"  retorted  he,  "  you  have  the 
thick  skin  necessary  to  living  up  to  that  rule." 
And  the  twinkle  in  his  eyes  betrayed  the  man 
who  delights  to  exercise  a  real  or  imaginary  talent 
for  caustic  wit.  Such  men  are  like  nettles  — 
dangerous  only  to  the  timid  touch. 

"  On  the  contrary,"  replied  I,  easy  in  mind 


A  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ANITA         349 

now,  though  I  did  not  anger  him  by  showing  it, 
"  I  am  most  sensitive  to  insults  —  insults  to  my 
self.  But  you  are  not  insulting  me.  You  are 
insulting  a  purely  imaginary,  hearsay  person  who 
is,  I  venture  to  assure  you,  utterly  unlike  me,  and 
who  doubtless  deserves  to  be  insulted/' 

His  purple  had  now  faded.  In  a  far  different 
tone  he  said:  "  If  your  business  in  any  way  re 
lates  to  the  family  into  which  you  have  married, 
I  do  not  wish  to  hear  it.  Spare  my  patience  and 
your  time,  sir." 

"  It  does  not,"  was  my  answer.  "  It  relates  to 
my  own  family  —  to  my  wife  and  myself.  As 
you  may  have  heard,  she  is  no  longer  a  member 
of  the  Ellersly  family.  And  I  have  come  to  you 
chiefly  because  I  happen  to  know  your  sentiment 
toward  the  Ellerslys." 

"  I  have  no  sentiment  toward  them,  sir ! "  he 
exclaimed.  "  They  are  non-existent,  sir  —  non 
existent!  Your  wife's  mother  ceased  to  be  a 
Forrester  when  she  married  that  scoundrel.  Your 
wife  is  still  less  a  Forrester." 

"  True,"  said  I.     "  She  is  a  Blacklock." 

He  winced,  and  it  reminded  me  of  the  night 
of  my  marriage  and  Anita's  expression  when  the 
preacher  called  her  by  her  new  name.  But  I 


250  THE  DELUGE 

held  his  gaze,  and  we  looked  each  at  the  other 
fixedly  for,  it  must  have  been,  full  half  a  minute. 
Then  he  said  courteously :  "  What  do  you  wish  ?  " 

I  went  straight  to  the  point.  My  color  may 
have  been  high,  but  my  voice  did  not  hesitate 
as  I  explained :  "  I  wish  to  make  my  wife  finan 
cially  independent.  I  wish  to  settle  on  her  a 
sum  of  money  sufficient  to  give  her  an  income 
that  will  enable  her  to  live  as  she  has  been 
accustomed.  I  know  she  would  not  take  it  from 
me.  So,  I  have  come  to  ask  you  to  pretend  to 
give  it  to  her  —  I,  of  course,  giving  it  to  you 
to  give." 

Again  we  looked  full  and  fixedly  each  at  the 
other.  "  Come  to  the  house,  Blacklock,"  he  said 
at  last  in  a  tone  that  was  the  subtlest  of  compli 
ments.  And  he  linked  his  arm  in  mine.  Half 
way  to  the  rambling  stone  house,  severe  in  its 
lines,  yet  fine  and  homelike,  quaintly  resembling 
its  owner,  as  a  man's  house  always  should,  he 
paused.  "  I  owe  you  an  apology/'  said  he.  "  Af 
ter  all  my  experience  of  this  world  of  envy  and 
malice,  I  should  have  recognized  the  man  even 
in  the  caricatures  of  his  enemies.  And  you 
brought  the  best  possible  credentials  —  you  are 
well  hated.  To  be  well  hated  by  the  human  race 


A  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ANITA         351 

and  by  the  creatures  mounted  on  its  back  is  a  dis 
tinction,  sir.  It  is  the  crown  of  the  true  kings 
of  this  world." 

We  seated  ourselves  on  the  wide  veranda;  he 
had  champagne  and  water  brought,  and  cigars; 
and  we  proceeded  to  get  acquainted  —  nothing 
promotes  cordiality  and  sympathy  like  an  initial 
misunderstanding.  It  was  a  good  hour  before 
this  kind-hearted,  hard-soft,  typical  old-fashioned 
New  Englander  reverted  to  the  object  of  my 
visit.  Said  he :  "  And  now,  young  man,  may  I 
venture  to  ask  some  extremely  personal  ques 
tions?" 

"  In  the  circumstances/'  replied  I,  "  you  have 
the  right  to  know  everything.  I  did  not  come  to 
you  without  first  making  sure  what  manner  of 
man  I  was  to  find."  At  this  he  blushed,  pleased 
as  a  girl  at  her  first  beau's  first  compliment.  "And 
you,  Mr.  Forrester,  can  not  be  expected  to  em 
bark  in  the  little  adventure  I  propose,  until  you 
have  satisfied  yourself." 

"  First,  the  why  of  your  plan." 

"  I  am  in  active  business,"  replied  I,  "  and  I 
shall  be  still  more  active.  That  means  financial 
uncertainty." 

His  suspicion  of  me  started  up  from  its  doze 


252  THE  DELUGE 

and  rubbed  its  eyes.  "  Ah !  You  wish  to  insure 
yourself." 

"  Yes/'  was  my  answer,  "  but  not  in  the  way 
you  hint.  It  takes  away  a  man's  courage  just 
when  he  needs  it  most,  to  feel  that  his  family  is 
involved  in  his  venture." 

"  Why  do  you  not  make  the  settlement  direct  ?  " 
he  asked,  pertly  reassured. 

"  Because  I  wish  her  to  feel  that  it  is  her  own, 
that  I  have  no  right  over  it  whatever." 

He  thought  about  this.  His  eyes  were  keen  as 
he  said,  "  Is  that  your  real  reason  ?  " 

I  saw  I  must  be  unreserved  with  him.  "  Part 
of  it,"  I  replied.  "  The  rest  is  —  she  would  not 
take  it  from  me." 

The  old  man  smiled  cynically.  "  Have  you 
tried  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  If  I  had  tried  and  failed,  she  would  have 
been  on  the  alert  for  an  indirect  attempt." 

"  Try  her,  young  man,"  said  he,  laughing. 
"  In  this  day  there  are  few  people  anywhere  who'd 
refuse  any  sum  from  anybody  for  anything.  And 
a  woman  —  and  a  New  York  woman  —  and  a 
New  York  fashionable  woman  —  and  a  daughter 
of  old  Ellersly  —  she'll  take  it  as  a  baby  takes  the 
breast." 


A  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ANITA         353 

"  She  would  not  take  it,"  said  I. 

My  tone,  though  I  strove  to  keep  angry  pro 
test  out  of  it,  because  I  needed  him,  caused  him  to 
draw  back  instantly.  "  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said 
he.  "  I  forgot  for  the  moment  that  I  was  talking 
to  a  man  young  enough  still  to  have  youth's  de 
lusions  about  women.  You'll  learn  that  they're 
human,  that  it's  from  them  we  men  inherit  our 
weaknesses.  However,  let's  assume  that  she 
won't  take  it:  Why  won't  she  take  your  money  ? 
What  is  there  about  it  that  repels  Ellersly's 
daughter,  brought  up  in  the  sewers  of  fashionable 
New  York  —  the  sewers,  sir !  " 

"  She  does  not  love  me,"  I  answered. 

"  I  have  hurt  you,"  he  said  quickly,  in  great 
distress  at  having  compelled  me  to  expose  my 
secret  wound. 

''  The  wound  does  not  ache  the  worse,"  said 
I,  "  for  my  showing  it  —  to  you."  And  that  was 
the  truth.  I  looked  over  toward  Dawn  Hill  whose 
towers  could  just  be  seen.  "  We  live  there."  I 
pointed.  "  She  is  —  like  a  guest  in  my  house." 

When  I  glanced  at  him  again,  his  face  betrayed 
a  feeling  of  which  I  doubt  if  any  one  had  thought 
him  capable  in  many  a  year.  "  I  see  that  you 
love  her,"  he  said,  gently  as  a  mother. 


354  THE  DELUGE 

"Yes,"  I  replied.  And  presently  I  went  on: 
"  The  idea  of  any  one  I  love  being  dependent  on 
me  in  a  sordid  way  is  most  distasteful  to  me. 
And  since  she  does  not  love  me,  does  not  even 
like  me,  it  is  doubly  necessary  that  she  be  inde 
pendent." 

"  I  confess  I  do  not  quite  follow  you,"  said  he. 

"  How  can  she  accept  anything  from  me?  If 
she  should  finally  be  compelled  by  necessity  to 
do  it,  what  hope  could  I  have  of  her  ever  feeling 
toward  me  as  a  wife  should  feel  toward  her  hus 
band?" 

At  this  explanation  of  mine  his  eyes  sparkled 
with  anger  —  and  I  could  not  but  suspect  that  he 
had  at  one  time  in  his  life  been  faced  with  a 
problem  like  mine,  and  had  settled  it  the  other 
way.  My  suspicion  was  not  weakened  when  he 
went  on  to  say : 

"  Boyish  motives  again !  They  show  you  do 
not  know  women.  Don't  be  deceived  by  their 
delicate  exterior,  by  their  pretenses  of  super- 
refinement.  They  affect  to  be  what  passion  de 
ludes  us  into  thinking  them.  But  they're  clay, 
sir,  just  clay,  and  far  less  sensitive  than  we  men. 
Don't  you  see,  young  man,  that  by  making  her 
independent  you're  throwing  away  your  best 


A  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ANITA 

chance  of  winning  her  ?  Women  are  like  dogs  — • 
like  dogs,  sir !  They  lick  the  hand  that  feeds  'em 
—  lick  it,  and  like  it." 

"  Possibly,"  said  I,  with  no  disposition  to  com 
bat  views  based  on  I  knew  not  what  painful 
experience.  "  But  I  don't  care  for  that  sort  of 
liking  —  from  a  woman,  or  from  a  dog." 

"It's  the  only  kind  you'll  get,"  retorted  he, 
trying  to  control  his  agitation.  "  I'm  an  old 
man.  I  know  human  nature  —  that's  why  I  live 
alone.  You'll  take  that  kind  of  liking,  or  do 
without/' 

"  Then  I'll  do  without,"  said  I. 

"  Give  her  an  income,  and  she'll  go.  I  see  it 
all.  You've  flattered  her  vanity  by  showing  your 
love  for  her  —  that's  the  way  with  women.  They 
go  crazy  about  themselves,  and  forget  all  about 
the  man.  Give  her  an  income  and  she'll  go." 

"  I  doubt  it,"  said  I.  "  And  you  would,  if  you 
knew  her.  But,  even  so,  I  shall  lose  her  in  any 
event.  For,  unless  she  is  made  independent,  she'll 
certainly  go  with  the  last  of  the  little  money 
she  has,  the  remnant  of  a  small  legacy." 

The  old  man  argued  with  me,  the  more  vig 
orously,  I  suspect,  because  he  found  me  resolute. 
When  he  could  think  o'f  no  new  way  of  stating 


THE  DELUGE 

his  case  —  his  case  against  Anita  —  he  said: 
"  You  are  a  fool,  young  man  —  that's  clear.  I 
wonder  such  a  fool  was  ever  able  to  get  together 
as  much  property  as  report  credits  you  with.  But 
—  you're  the  kind  of  fool  I  like." 

"Then  —  you'll  indulge  my  folly?"  said  I, 
smiling1. 

He  threw  up  his  arms  in  a  gesture  of  mock 
despair.  "  If  you  will  have  it  so,"  he  replied. 
"  I  am  curious  about  this  niece  of  mine.  I  want 
to  see  her.  I  want  to  see  the  woman  who  can 
resist  you." 

"  Her  mind  and  her  heart  are  closed  against 
me,"  said  I.  "  And  it  is  my  own  fault  —  I  closed 
them." 

"  Put  her  out  of  your  head,"  he  advised.  "  No 
woman  is  worth  a  serious  man's  while." 

"  I  have  few  wants,  few  purposes,"  said  I. 
"  But  those  few  I  pursue  to  the  end.  Even 
though  she  were  not  worth  while,  even  though  I 
wholly  lost  hope,  still  I'd  not  give  her  up.  I 
couldn't  —  that's  my  nature.  But  —  she  is  worth 
while."  And  I  could  see  her,  slim  and  graceful, 
the  curves  in  her  face  and  figure  that  made  my 
heart  leap,  the  azure  sheen  upon  her  petal-like 
skin,  the  mystery  of  the  soul  luring  from  her  eyes. 


A  CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ANITA 

After  we  had  arranged  the  business  —  or, 
rather,  arranged  to  have  it  arranged  through  our 
lawyers  —  he  walked  down  to  the  pier  with  me. 
At  the  gangway  he  gave  me  another  searching 
look  from  head  to  foot  —  but  vastly  different 
from  the  inspection  with  which  our  interview 
had  begun.  "  You  are  a  devilish  handsome  young 
fellow,"  said  he.  "  Your  pictures  don't  do  you 
justice.  And  I  shouldn't  have  believed  any  man 
could  overcome  in  one  brief  sitting  such  a  preju 
dice  as  I  had  against  you.  On  second  thought, 
I  don't  care  to  see  her.  She  must  be  even  below 
the  average." 

"  Or  far  above  it,"  I  suggested. 

"  I  suppose  I'll  have  to  ask  her  over  to  visit 
me,"  he  went  on.  "  A  fine  hypocrite  I'll  feel." 

'  You  can  make  it  one  of  the  conditions  of  your 
gift  that  she  is  not  to  thank  you  or  speak  of  it," 
said  I.  "  I  fear  your  face  would  betray  us,  if 
she  ever  did." 

"  An  excellent  idea ! "  he  exclaimed.  Then, 
as  he  shook  hands  with  me  in  farewell :  "  You 
will  win  her  yet  —  if  you  care  to." 

As  I  steamed  up  the  Sound,  I  was  tempted  to 
put  in  at  Dawn  Hill's  harbor.  Through  my  glass 
I  could  see  Anita  and  Alva  and  several  others, 


358  THE  DELUGE 

men  and  women,  having  tea  on  the  lawn  under  a 
red  and  white  awning.  I  could  see  her  dress  — 
a  violet  suit  with  a  big  violet  hat  to  match.  I 
knew  that  costume.  Like  everything  she  wore, 
it  was  both  beautiful  in  itself  and  most  becoming 
to  her.  I  could  see  her  face,  could  almost  make 
out  its  expression  —  did  I  see,  or  did  I  imagine, 
a  cruel  contrast  to  what  I  always  saw  when  she 
knew  I  was  looking? 

I  gazed  until  the  trees  hid  lawn  and  gay  awn 
ing,  and  that  lively  company  and  her.  In  my  bit 
terness  I  was  full  of  resentment  against  her,  full 
of  self-pity.  I  quite  forgot,  for  that  moment, 
her  side  of  the  story. 


XXVIII 

BLACKLOCK  SEES  A  LIGHT 

It  was  next  day,  I  think,  that  I  met  Mowbray 
Langdon  and  his  brother  Tom  in  the  entrance 
of  the  Textile  Building.  Mowbray  was  back 
only  a  week  from  his  summer  abroad;  but  Tom 
I  had  seen  and  nodded  to  every  day,  often  several 
times  in  the  same  day,  as  he  went  to  and  fro 
about  his  "  respectable  "  dirty  work  for  the  Roe- 
buck-Langdon  clique.  He  was  one  of  their  most 
frequently  used  stool-pigeon  directors  in  banks 
and  insurance  companies  whose  funds  they  staked 
in  their  big  gambling  operations,  they  taking  al 
most  all  the  profits  and  the  depositors  and  policy 
holders  taking  almost  all  the  risk.  It  had  never 
once  occurred  to  me  to  have  any  feeling  of  any 
kind  about  Tom,  or  in  any  way  to  take  him  into 
my  calculations  as  to  Anita.  He  was,  to  my  eyes, 
too  obviously  a  pale  understudy  of  his  powerful 
and  fascinating  brother.  Whenever  I  thought 
of  him  as  the  man  Anita  fancied  she  loved,  I 
359 


360  THE  DELUGE 

put  it  aside  instantly.  "The  kind  of  man  a 
woman  really  cares  for/'  I  would  say  to  myself, 
"  is  the  measure  of  her  true  self.  But  not  the 
kind  of  man  she  imagines  she  cares  for." 

Tom  went  on;  Mowbray  stopped.  We  shook 
hands,  and  exchanged  commonplaces  in  the 
friendliest  way  —  I  was  harboring  no  resentment 
against  him,  and  I  wished  him  to  realize  that  his 
assault  had  bothered  me  no  more  than  the  buzzing 
and  battering  of  a  summer  fly.  "  I've  been  try 
ing  to  get  in  to  see  you,"  said  he.  "I  wanted  to 
explain  about  that  unfortunate  Textile  deal." 

This,  when  the  assault  on  me  had  burst  out 
with  fresh  energy  the  day  after  he  landed  from 
Europe !  I  could  scarcely  believe  that  his  vanity, 
his  confidence  in  his  own  skill  at  underground 
work  could  so  delude  him.  "  Don't  bother,"  said 
I.  "  All  that's  ancient  history." 

But  he  had  thought  out  some  lies  he  regarded 
as  particularly  creditable  to  his  ingenuity ;  he  was 
not  to  be  deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  telling  them. 
So  I  was  compelled  to  listen ;  and,  being  in  an  in 
dulgent  mood,  I  did  not  spoil  his  pleasure  by  let 
ting  him  see  or  suspect  my  unbelief.  If  he  could 
have  looked  into  rny  mind,  as  I  stood  there  in  an 
attitude  of  patient  attention,  I  think  even  his  self- 


BLACKLOCK  SEES  A  LIGHT  ^fa 

complacence  would  have  been  put  out  of  counte 
nance.  You  may  admire  the  exploits  of  a  "  gentle 
man  "  cracksman  or  pickpocket,  if  you  hear  or 
read  them  with  only  their  ingenuity  put  before 
you.  But  see  a  "  gentleman  "  liar  or  thief  at  his 
sneaking,  cowardly  work,  and  admiration  is  im 
possible.  As  Langdon  lied  on,  as  I  studied  his 
cheap,  vulgar  exhibition  of  himself,  he  all  uncon 
scious,  I  thought :  "  Beneath  that  very  thin  sur 
face  of  yours,  you're  a  poor  cowardly  creature  — • 
you,  and  all  your  fellow  bandits.  No;  bandit  is 
too  grand  a  word  to  apply  to  this  game  of  *  high 
finance/  It's  really  on  the  level  with  the  game  of 
the  fellow  that  waits  for  a  dark  night,  slips  into 
the  barn-yard,  poisons  the  watch-dog,  bores  an 
auger-hole  in  the  granary,  and  takes  to  his  heels 
at  a  suspicious  sound." 

With  his  first  full  stop,  I  said :  "  I  understand 
perfectly,  Langdon.  But  I  haven't  the  slightest 
interest  in  crooked  enterprises  now.  I'm  clear  out 
of  all  you  fellows'  stocks.  I've  reinvested  my 
property  so  that  not  even  a  panic  would  trouble 
me." 

"  That's  good,"  he  drawled.  I  saw  he  did  not 
believe  me  —  which  was  natural,  as  he  knew  noth 
ing  of  my  arrangement  with  Galloway  and  as- 


362  THE  DELUGE 

sumed  I  was  laboring  in  heavy  weather,  with  a 
bad  cargo  of  Coal  stocks  and  contracts.  "  Come 
to  lunch  with  me.  I've  got  some  interesting 
things  to  tell  you  about  my  trip." 

A  few  months  before,  I  should  have  accepted 
with  alacrity.  But  I  had  lost  interest  in  him. 
He  had  not  changed;  if  anything,  he  was  more 
dazzling  than  ever  in  the  ways  that  had  once  daz 
zled  me.  It  was  I  that  had  changed  —  my  ideals, 
my  point  of  view.  I  had  no  desire  to  feed  my, 
new-sprung  contempt  by  watching  him  pump  in 
vain  for  information  to  be  used  in  his  secret  cam 
paign  against  me.  "  No,  thanks.  Another  day," 
I  replied,  and  left  him  with  a  curt  nod.  I  noted 
that  he  had  failed  to  speak  of  my  marriage, 
though  he  had  not  seen  me  since.  "  A  sore  sub 
ject  with  all  the  Langdons,"  thought  I.  "  It  must 
be  very  sore,  indeed,  to  make  a  man  who  is  all 
manners,  neglect  them." 

My  whole  life  had  been  a  series  of  transforma 
tions  so  continuous  that  I  had  noted  little  about 
my  advance,  beyond  its  direction  —  like  a  man 
hurrying  up  a  steep  that  keeps  him  bent,  eyes 
down.  But,  as  I  turned  away  from  Langdon,  I 
caught  myself  in  the  very  act  of  transformation. 
No  doubt,  the  new  view  haxi  long  Been  there,  its 


BLACKLOCK  SEES  A  LIGHT  363 

horizon  expanding  with  every  step  of  my  ascent ; 
but  not  until  that  talk  with  him  did  I  see  it.  I 
looked  about  me  in  Wall  Street;  in  my  mind's 
eye  I  all  in  an  instant  saw  my  world  as  it  really 
was.  I  saw  the  great  rascals  of  "  high  finance," 
their  respectability  stripped  from  them ;  saw  them 
gathering  in  the  spoils  which  their  cleverly-trained 
agents,  commercial  and  political  and  legal,  filched 
with  light  fingers  from  the  pockets  of  the  crowd, 
saw  the  crowd  looking  up  to  these  trainers  and 
employers  of  pickpockets,  hailing  them  "  captains 
of  industry  " !  They  reaped  only  where  and  what 
others  had  sown;  they  touched  industry  only  to 
plunder  and  to  blight  it;  they  organized  it  only 
that  its  profits  might  go  to  those  who  did  not  toil 
and  who  despised  those  who  did.  "  Have  I  gone 
mad  in  the  midst  of  sane  men?  "  I  asked  myself. 
"  Or  have  I  been  mad,  and  have  I  suddenly  be 
come  sane  in  a  lunatic  world  ?  " 

I  did  not  linger  on  that  problem.  For  me  ac 
tion  remained  the  essential  of  life,  whether  I  was 
sane  or  insane.  I  resolved  then  and  there  to  map 
a  new  course.  By  toiling  like  a  sailor  at  the 
pump  of  a  sinking  ship,  I  had  taken  advantage  to 
the  uttermost  of  the  respite  Galloway's  help  had 
given  me.  My  property  was  no  longer  in  more 


THE  DELUGE 

or  less  insecure  speculative  "  securities,"  but  was, 
as  I  had  told  Langdon,  in  forms  that  would  with 
stand  the  worst  shocks.  The  attacks  of  my  ene 
mies,  directed  partly  at  my  fortune,  or,  rather,  at 
the  stocks  in  which  they  imagined  it  was  still  in 
vested,  and  partly  at  my  personal  character,  were 
<ioing  me  good  insead  of  harm.  Hatred  always 
forgets  that  its  shafts,  falling  round  its  intended 
victim,  spring  up  as  legions  of  supporters  for 
him.  My  business  was  growing  rapidly;  my 
daily  letter  to  investors  was  read  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  where  tens  of  thousands  had  read  it  be 
fore  the  Roebuck-Langdon  clique  began  to  make 
me  famous  by  trying  to  make  me  infamous. 

"  I  am  strong  and  secure,"  said  I  to  myself  as 
I  strode  through  the  wonderful  canyon  of  Broad 
way,  whose  walls  are  those  mighty  palaces  of 
finance  and  commerce  from  which  business  men 
have  been  ousted  by  cormorant  "  captains  of  in- 
'dustry."  I  must  use  my  strength.  How  could 
I  better  use  it  than  by  fluttering  these  vultures  on 
their  roosts,  and  perhaps  bringing  down  a  bird 
or  two? 

I  decided,  however,  that  it  was  better  to  wait 
until  they  had  stopped  rattling  their  beaks  and 
claws  on  my  shell  in  futile  attack.  "  Meanwhile," 


BLACKLOCK  SEES  A  LIGHT  365; 

I  reasoned  carefully,  "  I  can  be  getting  good  and 
ready/7 

Their  first  new  move,  after  my  little  talk  with 
Langdon,  was  intended  as  a  mortal  blow  to  my 
credit.  Melville  requested  me  to  withdraw  mine 
and  Blacklock  and  Company's  accounts  from  the 
National  Industrial  Bank;  and  the  fact  that  this 
huge  and  powerful  institution  had  thus  branded 
me  was  slyly  given  to  the  financial  reporters  of 
the  newspapers.  Far  and  wide  it  was  published ; 
and  the  public  was  expected  to  believe  that  this 
was  one  more  and  drastic  measure  in  the  "  cam 
paign  of  the  honorable  men  of  finance  to  clean  the 
Augean  Stab.les  of  Wall  Street."  My  daily  letter 
to  investors  next  morning  led  off  with  this  para 
graph —  the  first  notice  I  had  taken  publicly  of 
their  attacks  on  me : 

"  In  the  effort  to  discredit  the  only  remaining 
uncontrolled  source  of  financial  truth,  the  big 
bandits  have  ordered  my  accounts  out  of  their 
chief  gambling-house.  I  have  transferred  the  ac 
counts  to  the  Discount  and  Deposit  National, 
where  Leonidas  Thornley  stands  guard  against 
the  new  order  that  seeks  to  make  business  a  syno 
nym  for  crime." 

Thornley  was  of  the  type  that  was  dominant  in 


366  THE  DELUGE 

our  commercial  life  before  the  "  financiers  "  came 
—  just  as  song  birds  were  common  in  our  trees 
until  the  noisy,  brawling,  thieving  sparrows  drove 
them  out.  His  oldest  son  was  about  to  marry 
Joe's  daughter  —  Alva.  Many  a  Sunday  I  have 
spent  at  his  place  near  Morristown  —  a  charming 
combination  of  city  comfort  with  farm  freedom 
and  fresh  air.  I  remember,  one  Sunday,  saying 
to  him,  after  he  had  seen  his  wife  and  daughters 
off  to  church:  "Why  haven't  you  got  rich? 
Why  haven't  you  looked  out  for  establishing  these 
boys  and  girls  of  yours?" 

"  I  don't  want  my  girls  to  be  sought  for 
money,"  said  he,  "  I  don't  want  my  boys  to 
rely  on  money.  Perhaps  I've  seen  too  much  of 
wealth,  and  have  come  to  have  a  prejudice  against 
it.  Then,  too,  I've  never  had  the  chance  to  get 
rich." 

I  showed  that  I  thought  that  he  was  simply 
jesting. 

"  I  mean  it/'  said  he,  looking  at  me  with  eyes 
as  straight  as  a  well-brought-up  girl's.  "  How 
could  my  mind  be  judicial  if  I  were  personally  in 
terested  in  the  enterprises  people  look  to  me  for 
advice  about  ?  " 

And  not  only  did  he  keep  himself  clear  and  his 


BLACKLOCK  SEES  A  LIGHT  367 

mind  judicial  but  also  he  was,  like  all  really  good 
people,  exceedingly  slow  to  believe  others  guilty 
of  the  things  he  would  as  soon  have  thought  of 
doing  as  he  would  have  thought  of  slipping  into 
the  teller's  cage  during  the  lunch  hour  and  pocket 
ing  a  package  of  bank-notes.  He  gave  me  his 
motto  —  a  curious  one :  "  Believe  in  everybody ; 
trust  in  nobody." 

"  Only  a  thief  wishes  to  be  trusted/'  he  ex 
plained,  "  and  only  a  fool  trusts.  I  let  no  one 
trust  me ;  I  trust  no  one.  But  I  believe  evil  of  no 
man.  Even  when  he  has  been  convicted,  I  see 
the  mitigating  circumstances." 

How  Thornley  did  stand  by  me !  And  for  no 
reason  except  that  it  was  as  necessary  for  him  to 
be  fair  and  just  as  to  breathe.  I  shall  not  say  he 
resisted  the  attempts  to  compel  him  to  desert  me 
• — •  they  simply  made  no  impression  on  him.  I  re 
member,  when  Roebuck  himself,  a  large  stock 
holder  in  the  bank,  left  cover  far  enough  personal 
ly  to  urge  him  to  throw  me  over,  he  replied  stead 
fastly: 

"  If  Mr.  Blacklock  is  guilty  of  circulating  false 
stories  against  commercial  enterprises,  as  his  ene 
mies  allege,  the  penal  code  can  be  used  to  stop 
him.  But  as  long  as  I  stay  at  the  head  of  this 


368  THE  DELUGE 

bank,  no  man  shall  use  it  for  personal  vengeance. 
It  is  a  chartered  public  institution,  and  all  have 
equal  rights  to  its  facilities.  I  would  lend  money 
to  my  worst  enemy,  if  he  came  for  it  with  the 
proper  security.  I  would  refuse  my  best  friend, 
if  he  could  not  give  security.  The  funds  of  a 
bank  are  a  trust  fund,  and  my  duty  is  to  see  that 
they  are  employed  to  the  best  advantage.  If  you 
wish  other  principles  to  prevail  here,  you  must 
get  another  president." 

That  settled  it.  No  one  appreciated  more 
keenly  than  did  Roebuck  that  character  is  as  in 
dispensable  in  its  place  as  is  craft  where  the  situ 
ation  demands  craft  —  and  is  far  harder  to  get. 

I  shall  not  relate  in  detail  that  campaign  against 
me.  It  failed  not  so  much  because  I  was  strong 
as  because  it  was  weak.  Perhaps,  if  Roebuck 
and  Langdon  could  have  directed  it  in  person, 
or  had  had  the  time  to  advise  with  their  agents 
before  and  after  each  move,  it  might  have  suc 
ceeded.  They  would  not  have  let  exaggeration 
dominate  it  and  venom  show  upon  its  surface; 
they  would  not  have  neglected  to  follow  up  ad 
vantages,  would  not  have  persisted  in  lines  of  at 
tack  that  created  public  sympathy  for  me.  They 
would  not  have  so  crudely  exploited  my  uncon- 


BLACKLOCK  SEES  A  LIGHT  369 

ventional  marriage  and  my  financial  relations  with 
old  Ellersly.  But  they  dared  not  go  near  the  bat 
tle-field;  they  had  to  trust  to  agents  whom  their 
orders  and  suggestions  reached  by  the  most 
roundabout  ways ;  and  they  were  busier  with  their 
enterprises  that  involved  immediate  and  great 
gain  or  loss  of  money. 

When  Galloway  died,  they  learned  that  the  Coal 
stocks  with  which  they  thought  I  was  loaded 
down  were  part  of  his  estate.  They  satisfied 
themselves  that  I  was  in  fact  as  impregnable  as 
I  had  warned  Langdon.  They  reversed  tactics;. 
Roebuck  tried  to  make  it  up  with  me.  "If  he 
wants  to  see  me/'  was  my  invariable  answer  to 
the  intimations  of  his  emissaries,  "  let  him  come 
to  my  office,  just  as  I  would  go  to  his,  if  I  wished 
to  see  him." 

"  He  is  a  big  man  — •  a  dangerous  big  man," 
cautioned  Joe. 

"  Big  — •  yes.  But  strong  only  against  his  own 
kind,"  replied  I.  "  One  mouse  can  make  a 
whole  herd  of  elephants  squeal  for  mercy." 

"  It  isn't  prudent,  it  isn't  prudent,"  persisted 
Joe. 

"  It  is  not,"  replied  I.  "  Thank  God,  I'm  at 
last  in  the  position  I've  been  toiling  to  achieve. 


THE  DELUGE 

I  don't  have  to  be  prudent.  I  can  say  and  do 
what  I  please,  without  fear  of  the  consequences. 
I  can  freely  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  being  a  man. 
That's  costly,  Joe,  but  it's  worth  all  it  could  cost." 
Joe  didn't  understand  me  —  he  rarely  did. 
"  I'm  a  hen.  You're  an  eagle,"  said  he. 


XXIX 

A   HOUSEWARMING 

Joe's  daughter,  staying  on  and  on  at  Dawn 
Hill,  was  chief  lieutenant,  if  not  principal,  in  my 
conspiracy  to  drift  Anita  day  by  day  further  and 
further  into  the  routine  of  the  new  life.  Yet 
neither  of  us  had  shown  by  word  or  look  that  a 
thorough  understanding  existed  between  us.  My 
part  was  to  be  unobtrusive,  friendly,  neither  indif 
ferent  nor  eager,  and  I  held  to  it  by  taking  care 
never  to  be  left  alone  with  Anita ;  Alva's  part  was 
to  be  herself  —  simple  and  natural  and  sensible, 
full  of  life  and  laughter,  mocking  at  those  moods 
that  betray  us  into  the  absurdity  of  taking  our 
selves  too  seriously. 

I  was  getting  ready  a  new  house  in  town  as  a 
surprise  to  Anita,  and  I  took  Alva  into  my  plot. 
"  I  wish  Anita's  part  of  the  house  to  be  exactly  to 
her  liking,"  said  I.  "  Can't  you  set  her  to  dream 
ing  aloud  what  kind  of  place  she  would  like  to 
live  in,  what  she  would  like  to  open  her  eyes  on 


372'  THE  DELUGE 

in  the  morning,  what  surroundings  she'd  like  to 
dress  in  and  read  in,  and  all  that  ?  " 

Alva  had  no  difficulty  in  carrying  out  the  sug 
gestions.  And  by  harassing  Westlake  incessant 
ly,  I  succeeded  in  realizing  her  report  of  Anita's 
dream  to  the  exact  shade  of  the  draperies  and  the 
silk  that  covered  the  walls.  By  pushing  the 
work,  I  got  the  house  done  just  as  Alva  was 
warning  me  that  she  could  not  remain  longer  at 
Dawn  Hill,  but  must  go  home  and  get  ready  for 
her  wedding.  When  I  went  down  to  arrange 
with  her  the  last  details  of  the  surprise,  who 
should  meet  me  at  the  station  but  Anita  herself? 
I  took  one  glance  at  her  serious  face  and,  much 
disquieted,  seated  myself  beside  her  in  the  little 
trap.  Instead  of  following  the  usual  route  to  the 
house,  she  turned  her  horse  into  the  bay-shore 
road. 

"  Several  days  ago,"  she  began,  as  the  bend 
hid  the  station,  "  I  got  a  letter  from  some  lawyers, 
saying  that  an  uncle  of  mine  had  given  me  a  large 
sum  of  money  —  a  very  large  sum.  I  have  been 
inquiring  about  it,  and  find  it  is  mine  absolutely." 

I  braced  myself  against  the  worst.  "  She  is 
about  to  tell  me  that  she  is  leaving,"  thought  I. 
But  I  managed  to  say :  "  I'm  glad  to  hear  of 


A  HOUSEWARMING  373 

your  luck,"  though  I  fear  my  tone  was  not  espe 
cially  joyous. 

"  So,"  she  went  on,  "  I  am  in  a  position  to  pay 
back  to  you,  I  think,  what  my  father  and  Sam 
took  from  you.  It  won't  be  enough,  I'm  afraid, 
to  pay  what  you  lost  indirectly.  But  I  have  told 
the  lawyers  to  make  it  all  over  to  you." 

I  could  have  laughed  aloud.  It  was  too  ridicu 
lous,  this  situation  into  which  I  had  got  myself. 
I  did  not  know  what  to  say.  I  could  hardly  keep 
out  of  my  face  how  foolish  this  collapse  of  my 
crafty  conspiracy  made  me  feel.  And  then  the 
full  meaning  of  what  she  was  doing  came  over  me 
—  the  revelation  of  her  character.  I  trusted  my 
self  to  steal  a  glance  at  her ;  and  for  the  first  time 
I  didn't  see  the  thrilling  azure  sheen  over  her 
smooth  white  skin,  though  all  her  beauty  was  be 
fore  me,  as  dazzling  as  when  it  compelled  me  to 
resolve  to  win  her.  No ;  I  saw  her,  herself  —  the 
woman  within.  I  had  known  from  the  outset 
that  there  was  an  altar  of  love  within  my  temple 
of  passion.  I  think  that  was  my  first  real  visit 
to  it. 

"  Anita !  "  I  said  unsteadily.     "  Anita !  " 

The  color  flamed  in  her  cheeks;  we  were  silent 
for  a  long  time. 


THE  DELUGE 


"  You  —  your  people  owe  me  nothing/'  I  at 
length  found  voice  to  say.  "  Even  if  they  did, 
I  couldn't  and  wouldn't  take  your  money.  But, 
believe  me,  they  owe  me  nothing." 

"  You  can  not  mislead  me/'  she  answered. 
*'  When  they  asked  me  to  become  engaged  to  you, 
they  told  me  about  it." 

I  had  forgotten.  The  whole  repulsive,  rotten 
business  came  back  to  me.  And,  changed  man 
that  I  had  become  in  the  last  six  months,  I  saw 
myself  as  I  had  been.  I  felt  that  she  was  look 
ing  at  me,  was  reading  the  degrading  confession 
in  my  telltale  features. 

"  I  will  tell  you  the  whole  truth,"  said  I.  "  I 
did  use  your  father's  and  your  brother's  debts  to 
me  as  a  means  of  getting  to  you.  But,  before 
God,  Anita,  I  swear  I  was  honest  with  you  when 
I  said  to  you  I  never  hoped  or  wished  to  win  you 
in  that  way  !  " 

"  I  believe  you,"  she  replied,  and  her  tone  and 
expression  made  my  heart  leap  with  indescribable 
joy. 

Love  is  sometimes  most  unwise  in  his  use  of 
the  reins  he  puts  on  passion.  Instead  of  acting 
as  impulse  commanded,  I  said  clumsily,  "  And 
I  am  very  different  to-day  from  what  I  was  last 


A  HOUSEWARMING  375 

spring."  It  never  occurred  to  me  how  she  might 
interpret  those  words. 

"  I  know,"  she  replied.  She  waited  several 
seconds  before  adding :  "  I,  too,  have  changed. 
I  see  that  I  was  far  more  guilty  than  you.  There 
is  no  excuse  for  me.  I  was  badly  brought  up, 
as  you  used  to  say,  but  — " 

"  No  —  no/'  I  began  to  protest. 

She  cut  me  short  with  a  sad :  "  You  need  not 
be  polite  and  spare  my  feelings.  Let's  not  talk 
of  it.  Let  us  go  back  to  the  object  I  had  in  com 
ing  for  you  to-day." 

"  You  owe  me  nothing,"  I  repeated.  "  Your 
brother  and  your  father  settled  long  ago.  I  lost 
nothing  through  them.  And  I've  learned  that  if 
I  had  never  known  you,  Roebuck  and  Langdon 
would  still  have  attacked  me." 

"  What  my  uncle  gave  me  has  been  transferred 
to  you,"  said  she,  woman  fashion,  not  hearing 
what  she  did  not  care  to  heed.  "  I  can't  make 
you  accept  it;  but  there  it  is,  and  there  it  stays." 

"  I  can  not  take  it,"  said  I.  "  If  you  insist  on 
leaving  it  in  my  name,  I  shall  simply  return  it  to 
your  uncle." 

"  I  wrote  him  what  I  had  done,"  she  rejoined. 
"  His  answer  came  yesterday.  He  approves  it." 


THE  DELUGE 

"  Approves  it !  "  I  exclaimed. 

"You  do  not  know  how  eccentric  he  is/'  she 
explained,  naturally  misunderstanding  my  aston 
ishment.  She  took  a  letter  from  her  bosom  and 
handed  it  to  me.  I  read : 

"  DEAR  MADAM  :  It  was  yours  to  do  with  as 
you  pleased.  If  you  ever  find  yourself  in  the 
mood  to  visit,  Gull  House  is  open  to  you,  provided 
you  bring  no  maid.  I  will  not  have  female  ser 
vants  about. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"HOWARD  FORRESTER." 

"You  will  consent  now,  will  you  not?"  she 
asked,  as  I  lifted  my  eyes  from  this  characteristic 
note. 

I  saw  that  her  peace  of  mind  was  at  stake. 
"Yes  — I  consent." 

She  gave  a  great  sigh  as  at  the  laying  down  of 
a  heavy  burden.  "  Thank  you,"  was  all  she  said, 
but  she  put  a  world  of  meaning  into  the  words. 
She  took  the  first  homeward  turning.  We  were 
nearly  at  the  house  before  I  found  words  that 
would  pave  the  way  toward  expressing  my 
thoughts  —  my  longings  and  hopes. 


A  HOUSEWARMING  377 

"  You  say  you  have  forgiven  me,"  said  I. 
"  Then  we  can  be  —  friends  ?  " 

She  was  silent,  and  I  took  her  somber  expres 
sion  to  mean  that  she  feared  I  was  hiding  some 
subtlety. 

"  I  mean  just  what  I  say,  Anita,"  I  hastened 
to  explain.  "  Friends  —  simply  friends."  And 
my  manner  fitted  my  words. 

She  looked  strangely  at  me.  "  You  would  be 
content  with  that?  "  she  asked. 

I  answered  what  I  thought  would  please  her. 
"  Let  us  make  the  best  of  our  bad  bargain,"  said 
I.  "  You  can  trust  me  now,  don't  you  think  you 
can?" 

She  nodded  without  speaking;  we  were  at  the 
door,  and  the  servants  were  hastening  out  to  re 
ceive  us.  Always  the  servants  between  us.  Ser 
vants  indoors,  servants  outdoors;  morning,  noon 
and  night,  from  waking  to  sleeping,  these  servants 
to  whom  we  are  slaves.  As  those  interrupting 
servants  sent  us  each  a  separate  way,  her  to  her 
maid,  me  to  my  valet,  I  was  depressed  with  the 
chill  that  the  opportunity  that  has  not  been  seen 
leaves  behind  it  as  it  departs. 

"  Well,"  said  I  to  myself  by  way  of  consola 
tion,  as  I  was  dressing  for  dinner,  "  she  is  cer- 


378  THE  DELUGE 

tainly  softening  toward  you,  and  when  she  sees 
the  new  house  you  will  be  still  better  friends." 

But,  when  the  great  day  came,  I  was  not  so 
sure.  Alva  went  for  a  "  private  view "  with 
young  Thornley;  out  of  her  enthusiasm  she  tele 
phoned  me  from  the  very  midst  of  the  surround 
ings  she  found  "  so  wonderful  and  so  beautiful " 
—  thus  she  assured  me,  and  her  voice  made  it 
impossible  to  doubt  And,  the  evening  be 
fore  the  great  day,  I,  going  for  a  final  look 
round,  could  find  no  flaw  serious  enough 
to  justify  the  sinking  feeling  that  came  over  me 
every  time  I  thought  of  what  Anita  would 
think  when  she  saw  my  efforts  to  realize 
her  dream.  I  set  out  for  "  home  "  half  a  dozen 
times  at  least,  that  afternoon,  before  I  pulled  my 
self  together,  called  myself  an  ass,  and,  with  a 
pause  at  Delmonico's  for  a  drink,  which  I  ordered 
and  then  rejected,  finally  pushed  myself  in  at  the 
door.  What  a  state  my  nerves  were  in ! 

Alva  had  departed ;  Anita  was  waiting  for  me 
in  her  sitting-room.  When  she  heard  me  in  the 
hall,  just  outside,  she  stood  in  the  doorway. 
"Come  in,"  she  said  to  me,  who  did  not  dare  so 
much  as  a  glance  at  her. 


A  HOUSEWARMING  379 

I  entered.  I  must  have  looked  as  I  felt  —  like 
a  boy,  summoned  before  the  teacher  to  be 
whipped  in  presence  of  the  entire  school.  Then 
I  was  conscious  that  she  had  my  hand  —  how 
she  had  got  it,  I  don't  know  —  and  that  she  was 
murmuring,  with  tears  of  happiness  in  her  voice : 
"Oh,  I  can't  jay  it!" 

"  Glad  you  like  your  own  taste,"  said  I  awk 
wardly.  "  You  know,  Alva  told  me." 

"  But  it's  one  thing  to  dream,  and  a  very  dif 
ferent  thing  to  do,"  she  answered.  Then,  with 
smiling  reproach :  "  And  I've  been  thinking  all 
summer  that  you  were  ruined !  I've  been  expect 
ing  to  hear  every  day  that  you  had  had  to  give 
up  the  fight." 

"  Oh  —  that  passed  long  ago,"  said  I. 

"  But  you  never  told  me,"  she  reminded  me. 
"  And  I'm  glad  you  didn't,"  she  added.  "  Not 
knowing  saved  me  from  doing  something  very 
foolish."  She  reddened  a  little,  smiled  a  great 
deal,  dazzlingly,  was  altogether  different  from  the 
ice-locked  Anita  of  a  short  time  before,  different 
as  June  from  January.  And  her  hand  —  so  in 
tensely  alive  —  seemed  extremely  comfortable  in 
mine. 

Even  as  my  blood  responded  to  that  electric 


380  THE  DELUGE 

touch,  I  had  a  twinge  of  cynical  bitterness.  Yes, 
apparently  I  was  at  last  getting  what  I  had  so 
long,  so  vainly,  and,  latterly,  so  hopelessly  craved, 
But  —  why  was  she  giving  it?  Why  had  she 
withheld  herself  until  this  moment  of  material 
happiness  ?  "I  have  to  pay  the  rich  man's  price," 
thought  I,  with  a  sigh. 

It  was  in  reaching  out  for  some  sweetness  to 
take  away  this  bitter  taste  in  my  honey  that  I  said 
to  her,  "  When  you  gave  me  that  money  from 
your  uncle,  you  did  it  to  help  me  out  ?  " 

She  colored  deeply.  "  How  silly  you  must  have 
thought  me !  "  she  answered. 

I  took  her  other  hand.  As  I  was  drawing  her 
toward  me,  the  sudden  pallor  of  her  face  and 
chill  of  her  hands  halted  me  once  more,  brought 
sickeningly  before  me  the  early  days  of  my  court 
ship  when  she  had  infuriated  my  pride  by  trying 
to  be  "  submissive."  I  looked  round  the  room  — 
that  room  into  which  I  had  put  so  much  thought 
—  and  money.  Money !  "  The  rich  man's  price !  " 
those  delicately  brocaded  walls  shimmered  mock 
ingly  at  me. 

"  Anita,"  said  I,  "  do  you  care  for  me?  " 

She  murmured  inaudibly.  Evasion !  thought  I, 
and  suspicion  sprang1  on  guard,  bristling,. 


A  HOUSEWARMING 


381 


"  Anita,"  I  repeated  sternly,  "  do  you  care  for 
me?  " 

"  I  am  your  wife,"  she  replied,  her  head  droop 
ing  still  lower.  And  hesitatingly  she  drew  away 
from  me.  That  seemed  confirmation  of  my  doubt 
and  I  said  to  her  satirically,  "  You  are  willing  to 
be  my  wife  out  of  gratitude,  to  put  it  politely  ?  " 

She  looked  straight  into  my  eyes  and  answered, 
"  I  can  only  say  there  is  no  one  I  like  so  well,  and 
—  I  will  give  you  all  I  have  to  give." 

"  Like ! "  I  exclaimed  contemptuously,  my 
nerves  giving  way  altogether.  "  And  you  would 
be  my  wife!  Do  you  want  me  to  despise  you  ?  " 
1  struck  dead  my  poor,  feeble  hope  that  had  been 
all  but  still-born.  I  rushed  from  the  room,  closing 
the  door  violently  between  us. 

Such  was  our  housewarming. 


XXX 

BLACKLOCK  OPENS  FIRE 

For  what  I  proceeded  to  do,  all  sorts  of  mo 
tives,  from  the  highest  to  the  basest,  have  been 
attributed  to  me.  Heie  is  the  truth:  I  had  al 
ready  pushed  the  medicine  of  hard  work  to  its 
limit.  It  was  as  powerless  against  this  new  de 
velopment  as  water  against  a  drunkard's  thirst. 
I  must  find  some  new,  some  compelling  drug  — 
some  frenzy  of  activity  that  would  swallow  up 
my  self  as  the  battle  makes  the  soldier  forget 
his  toothache.  This  confession  may  chagrin 
many  who  have  believed  in  me.  My  enemies 
will  hasten  to  say :  "  Aha,  his  motive  was  even 
more  selfish  and  petty  than  we  alleged."  But 
those  who  look  at  human  nature  honestly,  and 
from  the  inside,  will  understand  how  I  can  con 
cede  that  a  selfish  reason  moved  me  to  draw  my 
sword,  and  still  can  claim  a  higher  motive.  In 
such  straits  as  were  mine,  some  men  of  my  all-or- 
none  temperament  debauch  themselves;  others 
382 


BLACKLOCK  OPENS  FIRE  383 

thresh  about  blindly,  reckless  whether  they  strike 
innocent  or  guilty.     I  did  neither. 

Probably  many  will  recall  that  long  before  the 
"  securities "  of  the  reorganized  coal  combine 
were  issued,  I  had  in  my  daily  letter  to  investors 
been  preparing  the  public  to  give  them  a  fitting 
reception.  A  few  days  after  my  whole  being 
burst  into  flames  of  resentment  against  Anita,  out 
came  the  new  array  of  new  stocks  and  bonds. 
Roebuck  and  Langdon  arranged  with  the  under 
writers  for  a  "  fake  "  four  times  over-subscrip 
tion,  indorsed  by  the  two  greatest  banking  houses 
in  the  Street.  Despite  this  often-tried  and  always- 
good  trick,  the  public  refused  to  buy.  I  felt  I 
had  not  been  overestimating  my  power.  But  I 
made  no  move  until  the  "  securities  "  began  to  go 
up,  and  the  financial  reporters  —  under  the  in 
fluence  where  not  actually  in  the  pay  of  the  Roe- 
buck-Langdon  clique  —  shouted  that,  "  in  spite 
of  the  malicious  attacks  from  the  gambling  ele 
ment,  the  new  securities  are  being  absorbed  by  the 
public  at  prices  approximating  their  value/' 
Then —  But  I  shall  quote  my  investors'  letter 
the  following  morning: 

"At  half-past  nine  yesterday  —  nine-twenty- 


THE  DELUGE 

eight,  to  be  exact  —  President  Melville,  of  the 
National  Industrial  Bank,  loaned  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  He  loaned  it  to  Bill  Van  Nest, 
an  ex-gambler  and  proprietor  of  pool  rooms,  now 
silent  partner  in  Hoe  &  Wittekind,  brokers,  on 
the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  and  also  in  Fil 
bert  &  Jonas,  curb  brokers.  He  loaned  it  to  Van 
Nest  without  security. 

"  Van  Nest  used  the  money  yesterday  to  push 
up  the  price  of  the  new  coal  securities  by  '  wash 
saks '  —  which  means,  by  making  false  purchases 
and  sales  of  the  stock  in  order  to  give  the  public 
the  impression  of  eager  buying.  Van  Nest  sold 
to  himself  and  bought  from  himself  347,060  of 
the  352,681  shares  traded  in. 

"  Melville,  in  addition  to  being  president  of  one 
of  the  largest  banks  in  the  world,  is  a  director  in 
no  less  than  seventy-three  great  industrial  enter 
prises,  including  railways,  telegraph  companies, 
savings-banks  and  life-insurance  companies.  Bill 
Van  Nest  has  done  time  in  the  Nevada  State 
Penitentiary  for  horse-stealing." 

That  was  all.  And  it  was  enough  —  quite 
enough.  I  was  a  national  figure,  as  much  so  as 
if  I  had  tried  to  assassinate  the  president.  In- 


BLACKLOCK  OPENS  FIRE  385 

deed,  I  had  exploded  a  bomb  under  a  greater 
than  the  president  —  under  the  chiefs  of  the  real 
government  of  the  United  States,  the  government 
that  levied  daily  upon  every  citizen,  and  that  had 
state  and  national  and  the  principal  municipal 
governments  in  its  strong  box. 

I  confess  I  was  as  much  astounded  at  the  effect 
of  my  bomb  as  old  Melville  must  have  been.  I 
felt  that  I  had  been  obscure,  as  I  looked  at  the 
newspapers,  with  Matthew  Blacklock  appropriat 
ing  almost  the  entire  front  page  of  each.  I  was 
the  isolated,  the  conspicuous  figure,  standing  alone 
upon  the  steps  of  the  temple  of  Mammon,  where 
mankind  daily  and  devoutly  comes  to  offer  wor 
ship. 

Not  that  the  newspapers  praised  me.  I  recall 
none  that  spoke  well  of  me.  The  nearest  ap 
proach  to  praise  was  the  "  Blacklock  squeals  on 
the  Wall  Street  gang  "  in  one  of  the  sensational 
penny  sheets  that  strengthen  the  plutocracy  by 
lying  about  it  Some  of  the  papers  insinuated 
that  I  had  gone  mad;  others  that  I  had  been 
bought  up  by  a  rival  gang  to  the  Roebuck-Lang- 
don  clique ;  still  others  thought  I  was  simply  hunt 
ing  notoriety.  All  were  inclined  to  accept  as  a 
sufficient  denial  of  my  charges  Melville's  dignified 


386  THE  DELUGE 

refusal  "  to  notice  any  attack  from  a  quarter  so 
discredited." 

As  my  electric  whirled  into  Wall  Street,  I  saw 
the  crowd  in  front  of  the  Textile  Building,  a 
dozen  policemen  keeping  it  in  order.  I  descended 
amid  cheers,  and  entered  my  offices  through  a  mob 
struggling  to  shake  hands  with  me  —  and,  in  my 
ignorance  of  mob  mind,  I  was  delighted  and  in 
spired  !  Just  why  a  man  who  knows  men,  knows 
how  wishy-washy  they  are  as  individuals,  should 
be  influenced  by  a  demonstration  from  a  mass  of 
them,  is  hard  to  understand.  But  the  fact  is  in 
disputable.  They  fooled  me  then ;  they  could  fool 
me  again,  in  spite  of  all  I  have  been  through. 
There  probably  wasn't  one  in  that  mob  for 
whose  opinion  I  would  have  had  the  slightest 
respect  had  he  come  to  me  alone;  yet  as  I  lis 
tened  to  those  shallow  cheers  and  those  worth 
less  assurances  of  "  the  people  are  behind  you, 
Blacklock,"  I  felt  that  I  was  a  man  with  a  mis 
sion! 

Our  main  office  was  full,  literally  full,  of  news 
paper  men  —  reporters  from  morning  papers, 
from  afternoon  papers,  from  out-of-town  and  for 
eign  papers.  I  pushed  through  them,  saying  as 
I  went :  "  My  letter  speaks  for  me,  gentlemen, 


BLACKLOCK  OPENS  FIRE  387 

and  will  continue  to  speak  for  me.  I  have  noth 
ing  to  say  except  through  it." 

"  But  the  public "  urged  one. 

"  It  doesn't  interest  me,"  said  I,  on  my  guard 
against  the  temptation  to  cant.  "  I  am  a  banker 
and  investment  broker.  I  am  interested  only  in 
my  customers." 

And  I  shut  myself  in,  giving  strict  orders  to 
Joe  that  there  was  to  be  no  talking  about  me  or 
my  campaign.  "  I  don't  purpose  to  let  the  news 
papers  make  us  cheap  and  notorious,"  said  I. 
"  We  must  profit  by  the  warning  in  the  fate  of  all 
the  other  fellows  who  have  sprung  into  notice  by 
attacking  these  bandits." 

The  first  news  I  got  was  that  Bill  Van  Nest  had 
disappeared.  As  soon  as  the  Stock  Exchange 
opened,  National  Coal  became  the  feature.  But, 
instead  of  "  wash  sales,"  Roebuck,  Langdon  and 
Melville  were  themselves,  through  various  brok 
ers,  buying  the  stocks  in  large  quantities  to  keep 
the  prices  up.  My  next  letter  was  as  brief  as  my 
first  philippic : 

"Bill  Van  Nest  is  at  the  Hotel  Frankfort, 
Newark,  under  the  name  of  Thomas  Lowry.  He 
was  in  telephonic  communication  with  President 


388  THE  DELUGE 

Melville,  of  the  National  Industrial  Bank,  twice 
yesterday. 

"  The  underwriters  of  the  National  Coal  Com 
pany's  new  issues,  frightened  by  yesterday's  ex 
posure,  have  compelled  Mr.  Roebuck,  Mr.  Mow- 
bray  Langdon  and  Mr.  Melville  themselves  to  buy. 
So,  yesterday,  those  three  gentlemen  bought  with 
real  money,  with  their  own  money,  large  quanti 
ties  of  stocks  which  are  worth  less  than  half  what 
they  paid  for  them. 

"  They  will  continue  to  buy  these  stocks  so  long 
as  the  public  holds  aloof.  They  dare  not  let  the 
prices  slump.  They  hope  that  this  storm  will 
blow  over,  and  that  then  the  investing  public  will 
forget  and  will  relieve  them  of  their  load." 

I  had  added :  "  But  this  storm  won't  blow 
over.  It  will  become  a  cyclone.'"'  I  struck  that 
out.  "  No  prophecy,"  said  I  to  myself.  "  Your 
rule,  iron-clad,  must  be  —  facts,  always  facts ; 
only  facts." 

The  gambling  section  of  the  public  took  my 
hint  and  rushed  into  the  market;  the  burden  of 
protecting  the  underwriters  was  doubled,  and 
more  and  more  of  the  hoarded  loot  was  disgorged. 
That  must  have  been  a  costly  day  —  for,  ten 


BLACKLOCK  OPENS  FIRE  389 

minutes  after  the  Stock  Exchange  closed,  Roebuck 
sent  for  me. 

"  My  compliments  to  him,"  said  I  to  his  mes 
senger,  "  but  I  am  too  busy.  I'll  be  glad  to  see 
him  here,  however." 

"  You  know  he  dares  not  come  to  you,"  said 
the  messenger,  Schilling,  president  of  the  National 
Manufactured  Food  Company,  sometimes  called 
the  Poison  Trust.  "  If  he  did,  and  it  were  to  get 
out,  there' d  be  a  panic." 

"  Probably,"  replied  I  with  a  shrug.  "  That's 
no  affair  of  mine.  I'm  not  responsible  for  the 
rotten  conditions  which  these  so-called  financiers 
have  produced,  and  I  shall  not  be  disturbed  by  the 
crash  which  must  come." 

Schilling  gave  me  a  genuine  look  of  mingled 
pity  and  admiration.  "  I  suppose  you  know  what 
you're  about,"  said  he,  "  but  I  think  you're  mak 
ing  a  mistake." 

"  Thanks,  Ned,"  said  I  —  he  had  been  my  head 
clerk  a  few  years  before,  and  I  had  got  him  the 
chance  with  Roebuck  which  he  had  improved  so 
well.  "  I'm  going  to  have  some  fun.  Can't  live 
but  once." 

"  I  know  some  people/'  said  he  significantly, 
"  who  would  go  to  any  lengths  to  get  an  enemy 


39O  THE  DELUGE 

out  of  the  way."  He  had  lived  close  enough  to 
Roebuck  to  peer  into  the  black  shadows  of  that 
satanic  mind,  and  dimly  to  see  the  dread  shapes 
that  lurked  there. 

"  I'm  the  safest  man  on  Manhattan  Island  for 
the  present,"  said  I. 

"  You  remember  Woodrow  ?  I've  always  be 
lieved  that  he  was  murdered,  and  that  the  pistol 
they  found  beside  him  was  a  *  plant.' ' 

''  You'd  kill  me  yourself,  if  you  got  the  orders, 
wouldn't  you  ?  "  said  I  good-humoredly. 

"  Not  personally,"  replied  he  in  the  same  spirit, 
yet  serious,  too,  at  bottom.  "  Inspector  Brad- 
laugh  was  telling  me,  the  other  night,  that  there 
were  easily  a  thousand  men  in  the  slums  of  the 
East  Side  who  could  be  hired  to  kill  a  man  for 
five  hundred  dollars." 

I  suppose  Schilling,  as  the  directing  spirit  of  a 
corporation  that  hid  poison  by  the  hogshead  in 
low-priced  foods  of  various  kinds,  was  responsible 
for  hundreds  of  deaths  annually,  and  for  misery 
of  sickness  beyond  calculation  among  the  poor 
of  the  tenements  and  cheap  boarding-houses.  Yet 
a  better  husband,  father  and  friend  never  lived. 
He,  personally,  wouldn't  have  harmed  a  fly;  but 
he  was  a  wholesale  poisoner  for  dividends. 


BLACKLOCK  OPENS  FIRE  39! 

Murder  for  dividends.  Poison  for  dividends. 
Starve  and  freeze  and  maim  for  dividends. 
Drive  parents  to  suicide,  and  sons  and  daughters 
to  crime  and  prostitution  —  for  dividends.  Not 
fair  competition,  in  which  the  stronger  and  better 
[would  survive,  but  cheating  and  swindling,  lying 
and  pilfering  and  bribing,  so  that  the  honest  and 
the  decent  go  down  before  the  dishonest  and  the 
depraved.  And  the  custom  of  doing  these  things 
so  "  respectable,"  the  applause  for  "  success  "  so 
undiscriminating,  and  men  so  unthinking  in  the 
rush  of  business  activity,  that  criticism  is  regarded 
as  a  mixture  of  envy  and  idealism.  And  it  usual 
ly  is,  I  must  admit. 

Schilling  lingered.  "  I  hope  you  won't  blame 
me  for  lining  up  against  you,  Matt,"  said  he. 
"  I  don't  want  to,  but  I've  got  to." 

"Why?" 

"  You  know  what'd  become  of  me  if  I  didn't." 

"  You  might  become  an  honest  man  and  get 
self-respect,"  I  suggested  with  friendly  satire. 

"  That's  all  very  well  for  you  to  say,"  was  his 
laughing  retort.  "  You've  made  yourself  tight 
and  tidy  for  the  blow.  But  I've  a  family,  and  a 
damned  expensive  one,  too.  And  if  I  didn't  stand 
by  this  gang,  they'd  take  everything  I've  got  away 


392  THE  DELUGE 

from  me.  No,  Matt,  each  of  us  to  his  own  game. 
What  is  your  game,  anyhow  ?  " 

"  Fun  —  just  fun.  Playing  the  pipe  to  see  the 
big  fellows  dance." 

But  he  didn't  believe  it.  And  no  one  has  be 
lieved  it  —  not  even  my  most  devoted  followers. 
To  this  day  Joe  Ball  more  than  half  suspects  that 
my  real  objective  was  huge  personal  gain.  That 
any  rich  man  should  do  anything  except  for  the 
purpose  of  growing  richer  seems  incredible. 
That  any  rich  man  should  retain  or  regain  the 
sympathies  and  viewpoint  of  the  class  from  which 
.he  sprang,  and  should  become  a  "  traitor  "  to  the 
class  to  which  he  belongs,  seems  preposterous.  I 
confess  I  don't  fully  understand  my  own  case. 
Who  ever  does  ? 

My  "  daily  letters  "  had  now  ceased  to  be  ad 
vertisements,  had  become  news,  sought  by  all  the 
newspapers  of  this  country  and  of  the  big  cities 
in  Great  Britain.  I  could  have  made  a  large 
saving  by  no  longer  paying  my  sixty-odd  regular 
papers  for  inserting  them.  But  I  was  looking  too 
far  ahead  to  blunder  into  that  fatal  mistake.  In 
stead,  I  signed  a  year's  contract  with  each  of  my 
papers,  they  guaranteeing  to  print  my  advertise 
ments,  I  guaranteeing  to  protect  them  against  loss 


BLACKLOCK  OPENS  FIRE  393 

on  libel  suits.  I  organized  a  dummy  news 
bureau,  and  through  it  got  contracts  with  the  tele 
graph  companies.  Thus  insured  against  the  cut 
ting  of  my  communications  with  the  public,  I  was 
ready  for  the  real  campaign. 

It  began  with  my  "  History  of  the  National 
Coal  Company."  I  need  not  repeat  that  famous 
history  here.  I  need  recall  only  the  main  points 
^ —  howr  I  proved  that  the  common  stock  was  ac 
tually  worth  less  than  two  dollars  a  share,  that 
the  bonds  were  worth  less  than  twenty-five  dollars 
in  the  hundred,  that  both  stock  and  bonds  were 
illegal ;  my  detailed  recital  of  the  crimes  of  Roe 
buck,  Melville  and  Langdon  in  wrecking  mining 
properties,  in  wrecking  coal  railways,  in  ejecting 
American  labor  and  substituting  helots  from  east 
ern  Europe;  how  they  had  swindled  and  lied  and 
bribed;  how.  they  had  twisted  the  books  of  the 
companies,  how  they  were  planning  to  unload  the 
mass  of  almost  worthless  securities  at  high  prices, 
then  to  get  from  under  the  market  and  let  the 
bonds  and  stocks  drop  down  to  where  they  could 
buy  them  in  on  terms  that  would  yield  them  more 
than  two  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent,  on  the  actual 
capital  invested.  Less  and  dearer  coal;  lower 
wages  and  more  ignorant  laborers;  enormous 


394  THE  DELUGE 

profits  absorbed  without  mercy  into  a  few  pock 
ets. 

On  the  day  the  seventh  chapter  of  this  history 
appeared,  the  telegraph  companies  notified  me  that 
they  would  transmit  no  more  of  my  matter. 
They  feared  the  consequences  in  libel  suits,  ex 
plained  Moseby,  general  manager  of  one  of  the 
companies. 

"  But  I  guarantee  to  protect  you,"  said  I.  "  I 
will  give  bond  in  any  amount  you  ask." 

"  We  can't  take  the  risk,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  re 
plied  he.  The  twinkle  in  his  eye  told  me  why, 
and  also  that  he,  like  every  one  else  in  the  coun 
try  except  the  clique,  was  in  sympathy  with  me. 

My  lawyers  found  an  honest  judge,  and  I  got 
an  injunction  that  compelled  the  companies  to 
transmit  under  my  contracts.  I  suspended  the 
"  History  "  for  one  day,  and  sent  out  in  place 
of  it  an  account  of  this  attempt  to  shut  me  off 
from  the  public.  "  Hereafter,"  said  I,  in  the  last 
paragraph  in  my  letter,  "  I  shall  end  each  day's 
chapter  with  a  forecast  of  what  the  next  day's 
chapter  is  to  be.  If  for  any  reason  it  fails  to  ap 
pear,  the  public  will  know  that  somebody  has  been 
coerced  by  Roebuck,  Melville  &  Co." 


XXXI 

ANITA'S  SECRET 

That  afternoon  —  or,  was  it  the  next  ?  —  I  hap 
pened  to  go  home  early.  I  have  never  been  able 
to  keep  alive  anger  against  any  one.  My  anger 
against  Anita  had  long  ago  died  away,  had  been 
succeeded  by  regret  and  remorse  that  I  had  let 
my  nerves,  or  whatever  the  accursed  cause  was, 
whirl  me  into  such  an  outburst.  Not  that  I  re 
gretted  having  rejected  what  I  still  felt  was  in 
sulting  to  me  and  degrading  to  her;  simply  that 
my  manner  should  have  been  different.  There 
was  no  necessity  or  excuse  for  violence  in  showing 
her  that  I  would  not,  could  not,  accept  from  grati 
tude  what  only  love  has  the  right  to  give.  And  I 
had  long  been  casting  about  for  some  way  to 
apologize  —  not  easy  to  do,  when  her  distant 
manner  toward  me  made  it  difficult  for  me  to  find 
even  the  necessary  commonplaces  to  "  keep  up  ap 
pearances  "  before  the  servants  on  the  few  occa 
sions  on  which  we  accidentally  met. 
395 


THE  DELUGE 

But,  as  I  was  saying,  I  came  up  from  the  office 
and  stretched  myself  on  the  lounge  in  my  private 
room  adjoining  the  library.  I  had  read  myself 
into  a  doze,  when  a  servant  brought  me  a  card. 
I  glanced  at  it  as  it  lay  upon  his  extended  tray. 
"  Gerald  Monson,"  I  read  aloud.  "  What  does 
the  damned  rascal  want  ?  "  I  asked. 

The  servant  smiled.  He  knew  as  well  as  I  how 
Monson,  after  I  dismissed  him  with  a  present  of 
six  months'  pay,  had  given  the  newspapers  the 
story  —  or,  rather,  his  version  of  the  story  —  of 
my  efforts  to  educate  myself  in  the  "  arts  and 
graces  of  a  gentleman." 

"  Mr.  Monson  says  he  wishes  to  see  you  par 
ticular,  sir,"  said  he. 

«  Well  —  I'll  see  him,"  said  I.  I  despised  him 
too  much  to  dislike  him,  and  I  thought  he  might 
possibly  be  in  want.  But  that  notion  vanished 
the  instant  I  set  eyes  upon  him.  He  was  obvious-* 
ly  at  the  very  top  of  the  wave.  "  Hello,  Mon 
son,"  was  my  greeting,  in  it  no  reminder  of  his 
treachery. 

"  Howdy,  Blacklock,"  said  he.  "  I've  come  on 
a  little  errand  for  Mrs.  Langdon."  Then,  with 
that  nasty  grin  of  his :  "  You  know,  I'm  looking 
after  things  for  her  since  the  bust-up." 


ANITA'S  SECRET  397 

"  No,  I  didn't  know,"  said  I  curtly,  suppress 
ing  my  instant  curiosity.  "  .What  does  Mrs. 
Langdon  want  ?  " 

"  To  see  you  —  for  just  a  few  minutes  — 
whenever  it  is  convenient." 

"If  Mrs.  Langdon  has  business  with  me,  I'll 
see  her  at  my  office/'  said  I.  She  was  one  of  the 
fashionables  that  had  got  herself  into  my  black 
books  by  her  treatment  of  Anita  since  the  break 
Iwith  the  Ellerslys. 

"  She  wishes  to  come  to  you  here  —  this  after 
noon,  if  you  are  to  be  at  home.  She  asked  me  to 
say  that  her  business  is  important  —  and  very 
private." 

I  hesitated,  but  I  could  think  of  no  good  excuse 
for  refusing.  "  I'll  be  here  an  hour,"  said  I. 
"  Good  day." 

He  gave  me  no  time  to  change  my  mind. 
Something  —  perhaps  it  was  his  curious  expres 
sion  as  he  took  himself  off  —  made  me  begin  to 
regret.  The  more  I  thought  of  the  matter,  the 
less  I  thought  of  my  having  made  any  civil  con 
cession  to  a  woman  who  had  acted  so  badly 
toward  Anita  and  myself.  He  had  not  been  gone 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  I  went  to  Anita  in  her 
sitting-room.  Always,  the  instant  I  entered  the 


398  THE  DELUGE 

* 

outer  door  of  her  part  of  our  house,  that  power 
ful,  intoxicating  fascination  that  she  had  for  me 
began  to  take  possession  of  my  senses.  It  was  in 
every  garment  she  wore.  It  seemed  to  linger 
in  any  place  where  she  had  been,  for  a  long  time 
after  she  left  it.  She  was  at  a  small  desk  by  the 
window,  was  writing  letters. 

"May  I  interrupt?"  said  I.  "  Monson  was 
here  a  few  minutes  ago  —  from  Mrs.  Langdon. 
She  wants  to  see  me.  I  told  him  I  would  see  her 
here.  Then  it  occurred  to  me  that  perhaps  I  had 
been  too  good-natured.  What  do  you  think?  " 

I  could  not  see  her  face,  but  only  the  back  of 
her  head,  and  the  loose  coils  of  magnetic  hair  and 
the  white  nape  of  her  graceful  neck.  As  I  began 
to  speak,  she  stopped  writing,  her  pen  suspended 
over  the  sheet  of  paper.  After  I  ended  there  was 
a  long  silence. 

"  I'll  not  see  her/'  said  I.  "  I  don't  quite  un 
derstand  why  I  yielded."  And  I  turned  to  go. 

"  Wait  —  please,"  came  from  her  abruptly. 

Another  long  silence.  Then  I :  "If  she  comes 
here,  I  think  the  only  person  who  can  properly 
receive  her  is  you." 

"  No  —  you  must  see  her,"  said  Anita  at  last. 
And  she  turned  round  in  her  chair  until  she  was 


ANITA'S  SECRET 

facing  me.  Her  expression  —  I  can  not  describe 
it.  I  can  only  say  that  it  gave  me  a  sense  of  im 
pending  calamity. 

"  I'd  rather  not  —  much  rather  not,"  said  I. 

"  I  particularly  wish  you  to  see  her,"  she  re 
plied,  and  she  turned  back  to  her  writing.  I  saw 
her  pen  poised  as  if  she  were  about  to  begin ;  but 
she  did  not  begin  —  and  I  felt  that  she  would  not. 
With  my  mind  shadowed  with  vague  dread,  I  left 
that  mysterious  stillness,  and  went  back  to  the 
library. 

It  was  not  long  before  Mrs.  Langdon  was  an 
nounced.  There  are  some  women  to  whom  a 
haggard  look  is  becoming;  she  is  one  of  them. 
She  was  much  thinner  than  when  I  last  saw  her; 
instead  of  her  former  restless,  petulant,  suspicious 
expression,  she  now  looked  tragically  sad.  "  May 
I  trouble  you  to  close  the  door  ?  "  said  she,  when 
the  servant  had  withdrawn. 

I  closed  the  door. 

"  I've  come,"  she  began,  without  seating  Her 
self,  "  to  make  you  as  unhappy,  I  fear,  as  I  am. 
I've  hesitated  long  before  coming.  But  I  am 
desperate.  The  one  hope  I  have  left  is  that  you 
and  I  between  us  may  be  able  to  —  to  —  that  you 
and  I  may  be  able  to  help  each  other." 


400 


THE  DELUGE 


I  waited. 

"  I  suppose  there  are  people/'  she  went  on, 
"  who  have  never  known  what  it  was  to  —  really 
to  care  for  some  one  else.  They  would  despise 
me  for  clinging  to  a  man  after  he  has  shown  me 
that  —  that  his  love  has  ceased." 

"  Pardon  me,  Mrs.  Langdon,"  I  interrupted. 
"  You  apparently  think  your  husband  and  I  are 
intimate  friends.  Before  you  go  any  further,  I 
must  disabuse  you  of  that  idea." 

She  looked  at  me  in  open  astonishment.  "  You 
'do  not  know  why  my  husband  has  left  me?  " 

"  Until  a  few  minutes  ago,  I  did  not  know  that 
he  had  left  you,"  I  said.  "  And  I  do  not  wish 
to  know  why." 

Her  expression  of  astonishment  changed  to 
mockery.  "  Oh !  "  she  sneered.  "  Your  wife  has 
fooled  you  into  thinking  it  a  one-sided  affair. 
Well,  I  tell  you,  she  is  as  much  to  blame  as  he  — 
more.  For  he  did  love  me  when  he  married  me ; 
did  love  me  until  she  got  him  under  her  spell 
again." 

I  thought  I  understood.  "  You  have  been  mis 
led,  Mrs.  Langdon,"  said  I  gently,  pitying  her 
as  the  victim  of  her  insane  jealousy.  "  You 
have  — " 


ANITA'S  SECRET 


"  Ask  your  wife,"  she  interrupted  angrily. 
"  Hereafter,  you  can't  pretend  ignorance.  For 
I'll  at  least  be  revenged.  She  failed  utterly  to 
trap  him  into  marriage  when  she  was  a  poor  girl, 
and—" 

"Before  you  go  any  further,'*  said  I  coldly, 
"  let  me  set  you  right.  My  wife  was  at  one  time 
engaged  to  your  husband's  brother,  but  —  " 

"Tom?"  she  interrupted.  And  her  laugh 
made  me  bite  my  lip.  "  So  she  told  you  that  J 
I  don't  see  how  she  dared.  Why,  everybody 
knows  that  she  and  Mowbray  were  engaged,  and 
that  he  broke  it  off  to  marry  me." 

All  in  an  instant  everything  that  had  been  con 
fused  in  my  affairs  at  home  and  down  town  be 
came  clear.  I  understood  why  I  had  been  pur 
sued  relentlessly  in  Wall  Street;  why  I  had  been 
unable  to  make  the  least  impression  on  the  bar 
riers  between  Anita  and  myself.  You  will  im 
agine  that  some  terrible  emotion  at  once  domi 
nated  me.  But  this  is  not  a  romance;  only  the 
veracious  chronicle  of  certain  human  beings.  My 
first  emotion  was  —  relief  that  it  was  not  Tom 
Langdon.  "  I  ought  to  have  known  she  couldn't 
care  for  Turn"  said  I  to  myself.  I,  contending 
with  Tom  Langdon  for  a  woman's  love  had  al- 


402  THE  DELUGE 

ways  made  me  shrink.  But  Mowbray  —  that 
was  vastly  different.  My  respect  for  myself  and 
for  Anita  rose. 

"  No,"  said  I  to  Mrs.  Langdon,  "  my  wife  did 
not  tell  me,  never  spoke  of  it.  What  I  said  to  you 
was  purely  a  guess  of  my  own.  I  had  no  interest 
in  the  matter  —  and  haven't.  I  have  absolute 
confidence  in  my  wife.  I  feel  ashamed  that  you 
have  provoked  me  into  saying  so."  I  opened  the 
door. 

"  I  am  not  going  yet,"  said  she  angrily.  "  Yes 
terday  morning  Mowbray  and  she  were  riding 
together  in  the  Riverside  Drive.  Ask  her 
groom." 

"What  of  it?"  said  I.  Then,  as  she  did  not 
rise,  I  rang  the  bell.  When  the  servant  came, 
I  said:  "Please  tell  Mrs.  Blacklock  that  Mrs. 
Langdon  is  in  the  library  —  and  that  I  am  here, 
and  gave  you  the  message." 

As  soon  as  the  servant  was  gone,  she  said: 
"  No  doubt  she'll  lie  to  you.  These  women  that 
steal  other  women's  property  are  usually  clever 
at  fooling  their  own  silly  husbands." 

"  I  do  not  intend  to  ask  her,"  I  replied.  "  To 
ask  her  would  be  an  insult." 

She  made  no  comment  beyond  a  scornful  toss 


ANITA'S  SECRET  403 

of  the  head.  We  both  had  our  gaze  fixed  upon 
the  door  through  which  Anita  would  enter.  When 
she  finally  did  appear,  I,  after  one  glance  at  her, 
turned  —  it  must  have  been  triumphantly  — 
upon  her  accuser.  I  had  not  doubted,  but  where 
is  the  faith  that  is  not  the  stronger  for  confirma 
tion  ?  And  confirmation  there  was  in  the  very  at 
mosphere  round  that  stately,  still  figure.  She 
looked  calmly,  first  at  Mrs.  Langdon,  then  at  me. 

"  I  sent  for  you,"  said  I,  "  because  I  thought 
that  you,  rather  than  I,  should  request  Mrs.  Lang- 
'don  to  leave  your  house." 

At  that  Mrs.  Langdon  was  on  her  feet,  and 
blazing.  "  Fool !  "  she  flared  at  me.  "  Oh,  the 
fools  women  make  of  men!"  Then  to  Anita: 

:e  You  —  you But  no,  I  must  not  permit 

you  to  drag  me  down  to  your  level.  Tell  your 
husband  —  tell  him  that  you  were  riding  with 
my  husband  in  the  Riverside  Drive  yesterday." 

I  stepped  between  her  and  Anita.  "  My  wife 
will  not  answer  you,"  said  I.  "  I  hope,  Madam, 
you  will  spare  us  the  necessity  of  a  painful  scene. 
But  leave  you  must  —  at  once." 

She  looked  wildly  round,  clasped  her  hands, 
suddenly  burst  into  tears.  If  she  had  but  known, 
she  could  have  had  her  own  way  after  that,  with- 


404  THE  DELUGE 

out  any  attempt  from  me  to  oppose  her.  For  she 
was  evidently  unutterably  wretched  —  and  no  one 
knew  better  than  I  the  sufferings  of  unreturned 
love.  But  she  had  given  me  up ;  slowly,  sobbing, 
she  left  the  room,  I  opening  the  door  for  her  and 
closing  it  behind  her. 

"  I  almost  broke  down  myself/*  said  I  to  Anita. 
"  Poor  woman !  How  can  you  be  so  calm  ?  You 
women  in  your  relations  with  each  other  are  —  a 
mystery." 

"  I  have  only  contempt  for  a  woman  who  tries 
to  hold  a  man  when  he  wishes  to  go,"  said  Anita, 
with  quiet  but  energetic  bitterness.  "  Besides  " — • 
she  hesitated  an  instant  before  going  on  — 
"  Gladys  deserves  her  fate.  She  doesn't  really 
care  for  him.  She's  only  jealous  of  him.  She 
never  did  love  him." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?  "  said  I  sharply,  trying 
to  persuade  myself  it  was  not  an  ugly  suspicion 
in  me  that  lifted  its  head  and  shot  out  that  ques 
tion. 

"  Because  he  never  loved  her,"  she  replied. 
"  The  feeling  a  woman  has  for  a  man  or  a  man 
for  a  woman,  without  any  response,  isn't  love, 
isn't  worthy  the  name  of  love.  It's  a  sort  of  baf 
fled  covetousness.  Love  means  generosity,  not 


ANITA'S  SECRET  405 

greediness."  Then  — "  Why  do  you  not  ask  me 
whether  what  she  said  is  true  ?  " 

The  change  in  her  tone  with  that  last  sentence, 
the  strange,  ominous  note  in  it,  startled  me. 

"  Because,"  replied  I,  "  as  I  said  to  her,  to  ask 
my  wife  such  a  question  would  be  to  insult  her. 
If  you  were  riding  with  him,  it  was  an  accident." 
As  if  my  rude  repulse  of  her  overtures  and  my 
keeping  away  from  her  ever  since  would  not  have 
justified  her  in  almost  anything. 

She  flushed  the  dark  red  of  shame,  but  her  gaze 
held  steady  and  unflinching  upon  mine.  "  It  was 
not  altogether  by  accident,"  she  said.  And  I 
think  she  expected  me  to  kill  her. 

When  a  man  admits  and  respects  a  woman's 
rights  where  he  is  himself  concerned,  he  either  is 
no  longer  interested  in  her  or  has  begun  to  love 
her  so  well  that  he  can  control  the  savage  and 
selfish  instincts  of  passion.  If  Mowbray  Lang- 
don  had  been  there,  I  might  have  killed  them 
both;  but  he  was  not  there,  and  she,  facing  me 
without  fear,  was  not  the  woman  to  be  suspected 
of  the  stealthy  and  traitorous. 

"  It  was  he  that  you  meant  when  you  warned 
me  you  cared  for  another  man  ?  "  said  I,  so  quiet 
ly  that  I  wondered  at  myself;  wondered  what  had 


4o6  THE  DELUGE 

become  of  the  "  Black  Matt "  who  had  used  his 
fists  almost  as  much  as  his  brains  in  fighting  his 
way  up. 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  her  head  down  now. 

A  long  pause. 

"  You  wish  to  be  free?  "  I  asked,  and  my  tone 
must  have  been  gentle. 

"  I  wish  to  free  you,"  she  replied  slowly  and 
deliberately. 

There  was  a  long  silence.  Then  I  said :  "  I 
must  think  it  all  out.  I  once  told  you  how  I  felt 
about  these  matters.  I've  greatly  changed  my 
mind  since  our  talk  that  night  in  the  Willoughby ; 
But  my  prejudices  are  still  with  me.  Perhaps  you 
will  not  be  surprised  at  that  —  you  whose  preju 
dices  have  cost  me  so  dear." 

I  thought  she  was  going  to  speak.  Instead  she 
turned  away,  so  that  I  could  no  longer  see  her 
face. 

"  Our  marriage  was  a  miserable  mistake,"  I 
went  on,  struggling  to  be  just  and  judicial,  and  to 
seem  calm.  "  I  admit  it  now.  Fortunately,  we 
are  both  still  young  —  you  very  young.  Mis 
takes  in  youth  are  never  fatal.  But,  Anita,  do  not 
blunder  out  of  one  mistake  into  another.  You 
are  no  longer  a  child,  as  you  were  when  I  mar- 


ANITA'S  SECRET  407 

ried  you.  You  will  be  careful  not  to  let  judg 
ments  formed  of  him  long  ago  decide  you  for  him 
as  they  decided  you  against  me." 

"  I  wish  to  be  free,"  she  said,  each  word  com 
ing  with  an  effort,  "  as  much  on  your  account  as 
on  my  own."  Then,  and  it  seemed  to  me  merely 
a  truly  feminine  attempt  to  shirk  responsibility, 
she  added,  "  I  am  glad  my  going  will  be  a  relief 
to  you." 

"  Yes,  it  will  be  a  relief,"  I  confessed.  "  Our 
situation  has  become  intolerable."  I  had  reached 
my  limit  of  self-control.  I  put  out  my  hand. 
"  Good-by,"  I  said. 

If  she  had  wept,  it  might  have  modified  my 
conviction  that  everything  was  at  an  end  between 
us.  But  she  did  not  weep.  "  Can  you  ever  for 
give  me  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Let's  not  talk  of  forgiveness,"  said  I,  and  I 
fear  my  voice  and  manner  were  gruff,  as  I  strove 
not  to  break  down.  "  Let's  try  to  forget."  And 
I  touched  her  hand  and  hastened  away. 

When  two  human  beings  set  out  to  misunder 
stand  each  other,  how  fast  and  far  they  go !  How 
shut-in  we  are  from  each  other,  with  only  halting 
means  of  communication  that  break  down  under 
the  slightest  strain! 


408  THE  DELUGE 

As  I  was  leaving  the  house  next  morning,  I 
gave  Sanders  this  note  for  her : 

"  I  have  gone  to  live  at  the  Downtown  Hotel. 
When  you  have  decided  what  course  to  take,  let 
me  know.  If  my  '  rights '  ever  had  any  sub 
stance,  they  have  starved  away  to  such  weak 
things  that  they  collapse  even  as  I  try  to  set  them 
up.  I  hope  your  freedom  will  give  you  happi 
ness,  and  me  peace." 

"  You  are  ill,  sir  ?  "  asked  my  old  servant,  my 
old  friend,  as  he  took  the  note. 

"  Stay  with  her,  Sanders,  as  long  as  she 
wishes/'  said  I,  ignoring  his  question.  "Then 
come  to  me." 

His  look  made  me  shake  hands  with  him.  As 
I  did  it,  we  both  remembered  the  last  time  we 
had  shaken  hands  —  when  he  had  the  roses  for 
my  home-coming  with  my  bride.  It  seemed  to 
me  I  could  smell  those  roses. 


XXXII 

LANGDON   COMES  TO   THE  SURFACE 

I  shall  not  estimate  the  vast  sums  it  cost  the 
Roebuck-Langdon  clique  to  maintain  the  prices 
of  Niational  Coal,  and  so  give  plausibility  to  the 
fiction  that  the  public  was  buying  eagerly.  In 
the  third  week  of  my  campaign,  Melville  was  so 
deeply  involved  that  he  had  to  let  the  two  others 
take  the  whole  burden  upon  themselves. 

In  the  fourth  week,  Langdon  came  to  me. 

The  interval  between  his  card  and  himself 
gave  me  a  chance  to  recover  from  my  amazement. 
When  he  entered  he  found  me  busily  writing. 
Though  I  had  nerved  myself,  it  was  several 
seconds  before  I  ventured  to  look  at  him.  There 
he  stood,  probably  as  handsome,  as  fascinating  as 
ever,  certainly  as  self-assured.  But  I  could  now, 
beneath  that  manner  I  had  once  envied,  see  the 
puny  soul,  with  its  brassy  glitter  of  the  vanity  of 
luxury  and  show.  I  had  been  somewhat  afraid 
of  myself  —  afraid  the  sight  of  him  would  stir 
409 


THE  DELUGE 

up  in  me  a  tempest  of  jealousy  and  hate;  as  I 
looked,  I  realized  that  I  did  not  know  my  own  na 
ture.  "  She  does  not  love  this  man,"  I  thought. 
"If  she  did  or  could,  she  would  not  be  the  woman 
I  love.  He  deceived  her  inexperience  as  he  de 
ceived  mine." 

"  What  can  I  do  for  you  ? "  said  I  to  him 
politely,  much  as  if  he  were  a  stranger  making  an 
untimely  interruption. 

My  look  had  disconcerted  him ;  my  tone  threw 
him  into  confusion.  "  You  keep  out  of  the  way, 
now  that  you've  become  famous,"  he  began,  with 
a  halting  but  heroic  attempt  at  his  customary  easy 
superiority.  "  Are  you  living  up  in  Connecticut, 
too  ?  Sam  Ellersly  tells  me  your  wife  is  stopping 
there  with  old  Howard  Forrester.  Sam  wants 
me  to  use  my  good  offices  in  making  it  up  between 
you  two  and  her  family." 

I  was  completely  taken  aback  by  this  cool  ig 
noring  of  the  real  situation  between  him  and  me. 
Impudence  or  ignorance?  —  I  could  not  decide. 
It  seemed  impossible  that  Anita  had  not  told  him ; 
yet  it  seemed  impossible,  too,  that  he  would  come 
to  me  if  she  had  told  him.  "  Have  you  any  busi 
ness  with  me  ?  "  said  I. 

His  eyblids  twitched  nervously,  and  he  adjusted 


LANGDON  COMES  TO  THE  SURFACE        4ir 

his  lips  several  times  before  he  was  able  to  say: 

"  You  and  your  wife  don't  care  to  make  it  up 
with  the  Ellerslys?  I  fancied  so,  and  told  Sam 
you'd  simply  think  me  meddlesome.  The  other 
matter  is  the  Travelers  Club.  I've  smoothed 
things  out  there.  I'm  going  to  put  you  up  and 
rush  you  through." 

"  No,  thanks,"  said  I.  It  seemed  incredible  to 
me  that  I  had  ever  cared  about  that  club  and  the 
things  it  represented,  as  I  could  remember  I  un 
doubtedly  did  care.  It  was  like  looking  at  an  out 
grown  toy  and  trying  to  feel  again  the  emotions 
it  once  excited. 

"  I  assure  you,  Matt,  there  won't  be  the  slight 
est  difficulty."  His  manner  was  that  of  a  man 
playing  the  trump  card  in  a  desperate  game  —  he 
feels  it  can  not  lose,  yet  the  stake  is  so  big  that  he 
can  not  but  be  a  little  nervous. 

"  I  do  not  care  to  join  the  Travelers  Club," 
said  I,  rising.  "  I  must  ask  you  to  excuse  me. 
I  am  exceedingly  busy." 

A  flush  appeared  in  his  cheeks  and  deepened 
and  spread  until  his  whole  body  must  have  been 
afire.  He  seated  himself.  "  You  know  what 
I've  come  for,"  he  said  sullenly,  and  humbly,  too. 

All  his  life  he  had  been  enthroned  upon  his 


THE  DELUGE 

wealth.  .Without  realizing  it,  he  had  claimed 
and  had  received  deference  solely  because  he  was 
rich.  He  had  thought  himself,  in  his  own  person, 
most  superior;  now,  he  found  that  like  a  silly  child 
he  had  been  standing  on  a  chair  and  crying: 
"  See  how  tall  I  am."  And  the  airs,  the  cynicism, 
the  graceful  condescension,  which  had  been  so  be 
coming  to  him,  were  now  as  out  of  place  as  crown 
and  robes  on  a  king  taking  a  swimming  lessoa 

"  What  are  your  terms,  Blacklock  ?  Don't  be 
too  hard  on  an  old  friend,"  said  he,  trying  to 
carry  off  his  frank  plea  for  mercy  with  a  smile. 

I  should  have  thought  he  would  cut  his  throat 
and  jump  off  the  Battery  wall  before  he  would 
get  on  his  knees  to  any  man  for  any  reason.  And 
he  was  doing  it  for  mere  money  —  to  try  to  save, 
not  his  fortune,  but  only  an  imperiled  part  of  it. 
"If  Anita  could  see  him  now !  "  I  thought. 

To  him  I  said,  the  more  coldly  because  I  did 
not  wish  to  add  to  his  humiliation  by  showing 
him  that  I  pitied  him :  "  I  can  only  repeat,  Mr. 
Langdon,  you  will  have  to  excuse  me.  I  have 
given  you  all  the  time  I  can  spare." 

His  eyes  were  shifting  and  his  hands  trembling 
as  he  said :  "  I  will  transfer  control  of  the  Coal 
combine  to  you." 


LANGDON  COMES  TO  THE  SURFACE 

His  tones,  shameful  as  the  offer  they  carried, 
made  me  ashamed  for  him.  For  money  —  just 
for  money !  And  I  had  thought  him  a  man.  If 
he  had  been  a  self-deceiving  hypocrite  like  Roe 
buck,  or  a  frank  believer  in  the  right  of  might, 
like  Updegraff,  I  might  possibly,  in  the  circum 
stances,  have  tried  to  release  him  from  my  net. 
But  he  had  never  for  an  instant  deceived  himself 
as  to  the  real  nature  of  the  enterprises  he  plotted, 
promoted  and  profited  by;  he  thought  it  "  smart  " 
to  be  bad,  and  he  delighted  in  making  the  most 
cynical  epigrams  on  the  black  deeds  of  himself 
and  his  associates. 

"  Better  sell  out  to  Roebuck,"  I  suggested.  "  I 
control  all  the  Coal  stock  I  need." 

"I  don't  care  to  have  anything  further  to  do 
with  Roebuck,"  Langdon  answered.  "  I've 
broken  with  him." 

"  When  a  man  lies  to  me,"  said  I,  "  he  gives, 
me  the  chance  to  see  just  how  much  of  a  fool  he 
thinks  I  am,  and  also  the  chance  to  see  just  how 
much  of  a  fool  he  is.  I  hesitate  to  think  so  poor 
ly  of  you  as  your  attempt  to  fool  me  seems  to 
compel." 

But  he  was  unconvinced.  "  I've  found  he  in 
tends  to  abandon  the  ship  and  leave  me  to  go 


THE  DELUGE 

down  with  it,"  he  persisted.  "  He  believes  he  can 
escape  and  denounce  me  as  the  arch  rascal  who 
planned  the  combine,  and  can  convince  people  that 
I  foozled  him  into  it." 

Ingenious ;  but  I  happened  to  know  that  it  was 
false.  "  Pardon  me,  Mr.  Langdon,"  said  I  with 
stiff  courtesy.  "  I  repeat,  I  can  do  nothing  for 
you.  Good  morning."  And  I  went  at  my  work 
as  if  he  were  already  gone. 

Had  I  been  vindictive,  I  would  have  led  him 
on  to  humiliate  himself  more  deeply,  if  greater 
depths  of  humiliation  there  are  than  those  to 
which  he  voluntarily  descended.  But  I  wished  to 
spare  him ;  I  let  him  see  the  uselessness  of  his  mis 
sion.  He  looked  at  me  in  silence  —  the  look  of 
hate  that  can  come  only  from  a  creature  weak  as 
well  as  wicked.  I  think  it  was  all  his  keen  sense 
of  humor  could  do  to  save  him  from  a  melodram 
atic  outbreak.  He  slipped  into  his  habitual  pose, 
rose  and  withdrew  without  another  word.  All 
this  fright  and  groveling  and  treachery  for  plun 
der,  the  loss  of  which  would  not  impair  his  for 
tune —  plunder  he  had  stolen  with  many  a  jest 
and  gibe  at  his  helpless  victims.  Like  most  of 
our  debonair  dollar  chasers,  he  was  a  good  sports 
man  only  when  the  game  was  with  him. 


LANGDON  COMES  TO  THE  SURFACE 

That  afternoon  he  threw  his  Coal  holdings  on 
the  market  in  great  blocks.  His  treachery  took 
Roebuck  completely  by  surprise  —  for  Roebuck 
believed  in  this  fair-weather  "  gentleman/'  foul- 
weather  coward,  and  neglected  to  allow  for  that 
quicksand  that  is  always  under  the  foundation 
of  the  man  who  has  inherited,  not  earned,  his 
wealth.  But  for  the  blundering  credulity  of  ras 
cals,  would  honest  men  ever  get  their  dues? 
Roebuck's  brokers  had  bought  many  thousands 
of  Langdon's  shares  at  the  high  artificial  price  be 
fore  Roebuck  grasped  the  situation  —  that  it  was 
not  my  followers  recklessly  gambling  to  break  the 
prices,  but  Langdon  unloading  on  his  "  pal."  As 
soon  as  he  saw,  he  abruptly  withdrew  from  the 
market.  When  the  Stock  Exchange  closed,  Na 
tional  Coal  securities  were  offered  at  prices  rang 
ing  from  eleven  for  the  bonds  to  two  for  the 
common  and  three  for  the  preferred  —  offered, 
and  no  takers. 

"  Well,  you've  done  it,"  said  Joe,  coming  with 
the  news  that  Thornley,  of  the  Discount  and  De 
posit  Bank,  had  been  appointed  receiver. 

"  I've  made  a  beginning,"  replied  I.  And  the 
last  sentence  of  my  next  morning's  "  letter  "  was : 


4i 6  THE  DELUGE 

"  To-morrow  the  first  chapter  of  the  History  of 
the  Industrial  National  Bank." 


"  I  have  felt  for  two  years,"  said  Roebuck  to 
Schilling,  who  repeated  it  to  me  soon  afterward, 
"  that  Blacklock  was  about  the  most  dangerous 
fellow  in  the  country.  The  first  time  I  set  eyes 
on  him,  I  saw  he  was  a  born  iconoclast.  And 
I've  known  for  a  year  that  some  day  he  would 
use  that  engine  of  publicity  of  his  to  cannonade 
the  foundations  of  society." 

"  He  knew  me  better  than  I  knew  myself,"  was 
my  comment  to  Schilling.  And  I  meant  it  —  for 
I  had  not  finished  the  demolition  of  the  Coal  com 
bine  when  I  began  to  realize  that,  whatever  I 
might  have  thought  of  my  own  ambitions,  I  could 
never  have  tamed  myself  or  been  tamed  into  a 
devotee  of  dollars  and  of  respectability.  I  simply 
had  been  keeping  quiet  until  my  tools  were  sharp 
and  fate  spun  my  opportunity  within  reach.  But 
I  must,  in  fairness,  add,  it  was  lucky  for  me  that, 
when  the  hour  struck,  Roebuck  was  not  twenty 
years  younger  and  one-twentieth  as  rich.  It's  a 
heavy  enough  handicap,  under  the  best  of  circum 
stances,  to  go  to  war  burdened  with  years;  add 
the  burden  of  a  monster  fortune,  and  it  isn't  in 


LANGDON  COMES  TO  THE  SURFACE          417 

human  nature  to  fight  well.  Youth  and  a  light 
knapsack ! 

But  —  to  my  fight  on  the  big  bank. 

Until  I  opened  fire,  the  public  thought,  in  a 
general  way,  that  a  bank  was  an  institution  like 
Thornley's  Discount  and  Deposit  National  —  a 
place  for  the  safe-keeping  of  money  and  for  ac 
commodating  business  men  with  loans  to  be  used 
in  carrying  on  and  extending  legitimate  and  use 
ful  enterprises.  And  there  were  many  such  banks. 
But  the  real  object  of  the  banking  business,  as 
exploited  by  the  big  bandits  who  controlled  it  and 
all  industry,  was  to  draw  into  a  mass  the  money 
of  the  country  that  they  might  use  it  to  manipu 
late  the  markets,  to  wreck  and  reorganize  indus 
tries  and  wreck  them  again,  to  work  off  inflated 
bonds  and  stocks  upon  the  public  at  inflated  prices, 
to  fight  among  themselves  for  rights  to  despoil, 
making  the  people  pay  the  war  budgets  —  in  a 
word,  to  finance  the  thousand  and  one  schemes 
whereby  they  and  their  friends  and  relatives,  who 
neither  produce  nor  help  to  produce,  appropriate 
the  bulk  of  all  that  is  produced. 

And  before  I  finished  with  the  National  Indus 
trial  Bank,  I  had  shown  that  it  and  several  similar 
institutions  in  the  big  cities  throughout  the  coun- 


4Ig  THE  DELUGE 

try  were,  in  fact,  so  many  dens  to  which  rich 
and  poor  were  lured  for  spoliation.  I  then  took 
up  the  Universal  Life,  as  a  type.  I  showed  how 
insuring  was,  with  the  companies  controlled  by 
the  bandits,  simply  the  decoy;  that  the  real  object 
was  the  same  as  the  real  object  of  the  big  bandit 
banks.  When  I  had  finished  my  series  on  the 
Universal  Life  I  had  named  and  pilloried  Roe 
buck,  Langdon,  Melville,  Wainwright,  Updegraff, 
Van  Steen,  Epstein  —  the  seven  men  of  enormous 
wealth,  leaders  of  the  seven  cliques  that  had  the 
political  and  industrial  United  States  at  their 
mercy,  and  were  plucking  the  people  through  an 
ever-increasing  army  of  agents.  The  agents  kept 
some  of  the  feathers  — "  The  Seven  "  could  afford 
to  pay  liberally.  But  the  bulk  of  the  feather  crop 
was  passed  on  to  "  The  Seven." 

I  shall  answer  in  a  paragraph  the  principal 
charges  that  were  made  against  me.  They  say  I 
bribed  employees  on  the  telegraph  companies,  and 
so  got  possession  of  incriminating  telegrams  that 
had  been  sent  by  "  The  Seven  "  in  the  course  of 
their  worst  campaigns.  I  admit  the  charge. 
They  say  I  bribed  some  of  their  confidential  men 
to  give  me  transcripts  and  photographs  of  secret 
ledgers  and  reports.  I  admit  the  charge.  They 


LANGDON  COMES  TO  THE  SURFACE 

say  I  bought  translations  of  stenographic  notes 
taken  by  eavesdroppers  on  certain  important  se 
cret  meetings.  I  admit  the  charge.  But  what 
was  the  chief  element  in  my  success  in  thus  get 
ting  proofs  of  their  crimes  ?  Not  the  bribery,  but 
the  hatred  that  all  the  servants  of  such  men  have 
for  them.  I  tempted  no  one  to  betray  them. 
Every  item  of  information  I  got  was  offered  to 
me.  And  I  shall  add  these  facts : 

First,  in  not  a  single  case  did  they  suspect  and 
discharge  the  "  guilty  "  persons. 

Second,  I  have  to-day  as  good  means  of  access 
to  their  secrets  as  I  ever  had  —  and,  if  they  dis 
charged  all  who  now  serve  them,  I  should  be  able 
soon  to  reestablish  my  lines;  men  of  their  stripe 
can  not  hope  to  be  served  faithfully. 

Third,  I  had  offers  from  all  but  three  of  "  The 
Seven  "  to  "peach  "  on  the  others  in  return  for 
immunity.  There  may  be  honor  among  some 
thieves,  but  not  among  "  respectable "  thieves. 
Hypocrisy  and  honor  will  be  found  in  the  same 
character  when  the  sun  shines  at  night  —  not  be 
fore. 

It  was  the  sardonic  humor  of  fate  that  Lang- 
don,  for  all  his  desire  to  keep  out  of  my  way, 


420  THE  DELUGE 

should  have  compelled  me  to  center  my  fire  upon 
him ;  that  I,  who  wished  to  spare  him,  if  possible, 
should  have  been  compelled  to  make  of  him  my 
first  "  awful  example." 

I  had  decided  to  concentrate  upon  Roebuck,  be 
cause  he  was  the  richest  and  most  powerful  of 
"  The  Seven."  For,  in  my  pictures  of  the  three 
main  phases  of  "  finance  " —  the  industrial,  the 
life-insurance  and  the  banking  —  he,  as  arch  plot 
ter  in  every  kind  of  respectable  skulduggery, 
was  necessarily  in  the  foreground.  My  original 
intention  was  to  demolish  the  Power  Trust  —  or, 
at  least,  to  compel  him  to  buy  back  all  of  its  stock 
which  he  had  worked  off  on  the  public.  I  had 
collected  many  interesting  facts  about  it,  facts 
typical  of  the  conditions  that  "  finance  "  has  es 
tablished  in  so  many  of  our  industries. 

For  instance,  I  was  prepared  to  show  that  the 
actual  earnings  of  the  Power  Trust  were  two  and 
a  half  times  what  its  reports  to  stock-holders  al 
leged  ;  that  the  concealed  profits  were  diverted  into 
the  pockets  of  Roebuck,  his  sons,  eleven  other 
relatives  and  four  of  "  The  Seven,"  the  lion's 
share  going,  of  course,  to  the  lion.  Like  almost 
all  the  great  industrial  enterprises,  too  strong  for 
the  law  and  too  remote  for  the  supervision  of 


LANGDON,  COMES  TO  THE  SURFACE         421 

their  stock-holders,  it  gathered  in  enormous  reve 
nues  to  disburse  them  chiefly  in  salaries  and  com 
missions  and  rake-offs  on  contracts  to  favorites. 
I  had  proof  that  in  one  year  it  had  "  written  off  " 
twelve  millions  of  profit  and  loss,  ten  millions  of 
which  had  found  its  way  to  Roebuck's  pocket. 
That  pocket !  That  "  treasury  of  the  Lord  " ! 

Dishonest?  Roebuck  and  most  of  the  other 
leaders  of  the  various  gangs,  comprising,  with  all 
their  ramifications,  the  principal  figures  in  relig 
ious,  philanthropic,  fashionable  society,  did  not 
for  an  instant  think  their  doings  dishonest.  They 
had  no  sense  of  trusteeship  for  this  money  in 
trusted  to  them  as  captains  of  industry  bankers, 
life-insurance  directors.  They  felt  that  it  was 
theirs  to  do  with  as  they  pleased. 

And  they  felt  that  their  superiority  in  rank  and 
in  brains  entitled  them  to  whatever  remuneration 
they  could  assign  to  themselves  without  rousing 
the  wrath  of  a  public  too  envious  to  admit  the  just 
claims  of  the  "  upper  classes."  They  convinced 
themselves  that  without  them  crops  would  cease 
to  grow,  sellers  and  buyers  would  be  unable  to 
find  their  way  to  market,  barbarism  would  spread 
its  rank  and  choking  weeds  over  the  whole  garden 
of  civilization.  And,  so  brainless  is  the  parrot 


422 


THE  DELUGE 


public,  they  have  succeeded  in  creating  a  very 
widespread  conviction  that  their  own  high  opinion 
of  their  services  is  not  too  high,  and  that  some 
dire  calamity  would  come  if  they  were  swept  from 
between  producer  and  consumer!  True,  thieves 
are  found  only  where  there  is  property;  but  who 
but  a  chucklebrain  would  think  the  thieves  made 
the  property  ? 

Roebuck  was  the  keystone  of  the  arch  that  sus 
tained  the  structure  of  chicane.  To  dislodge  him 
was  the  direct  way  to  collapse  it.  I  was  about  to 
set  to  work  when  Langdon,  feeling  that  he  ought 
to  have  a  large  supply  of  cash  in  the  troublous 
times  I  was  creating,  increased  the  capital  stock 
of  his  already  enormously  overcapitalized  Textile 
Trust  and  offered  the  new  issue  to  the  public.  As 
the  Textile  Trust  was  even  better  bulwarked,  po 
litically,  than  the  Power  Trust,  it  was  easily  able 
to  declare  tempting  dividends  out  of  its  lootings. 
So  the  new  stock  could  not  be  attacked  in  the  one 
way  that  would  make  the  public  instantly  shun 
it  —  I  could  not  truthfully  charge  that  it  would 
not  pay  the  promised  dividends.  Yet  attack  I 
must  —  for  that  issue  was,  in  effect,  a  bold  chal 
lenge  of  my  charges  against  "  The  Seven.' * 
From  all  parts  of  the  country  inquiries  poured  in 


LANGDON  COMES  TO  THE  SURFACE 


423 


upon  me :  "  What  do  you  think  of  the  new  Tex 
tile  issue  ?  Shall  we  invest  ?  Is  the  Textile  Com 
pany  sound  ?  " 

I  had  no  choice.  I  must  turn  aside  from  Roe 
buck;  I  must  first  show  that,  while  Textile  was, 
in  a  sense,  sound  just  at  that  time,  it  had  been  un 
sound,  and  would  be  unsound  again  as  soon  as 
Langdon  had  gathered  in  a  sufficient  number  of 
lambs  to  make  a  battue  worth  the  while  of  a  man 
dealing  in  nothing  less  than  seven  figures.  I  pro 
ceeded  to  do  so. 

The  market  yielded  slowly.  Under  my  first 
day's  attack  Textile  preferred  fell  six  points,  Tex 
tile  common  three.  While  I  was  in  the  midst  of 
dictating  my  letter  for  the  second  day's  attack,  I 
suddenly  came  to  a  full  stop.  I  found  across  my 
way  this  thought :  "  Isn't  it  strange  that  Lang 
don,  after  humbling  himself  to  you,  should  make 
this  bold  challenge?  It's  a  trap!  " 

"  No  more  at  present,"  said  I,  to  my  stenogra 
pher.  "  And  don't  write  out  what  I've  already 
dictated." 

I  shut  myself  in  and  busied  myself  at  the  tele 
phone.  Half  an  hour  after  I  set  my  secret  ma 
chinery  in  motion,  a  messenger  brought  me  an  en 
velop,  the  address  type-written.  It  contained  a 


424  THE  DELUGE 

sheet  of  paper  on  which  appeared,  in  type-writing, 
these  words,  and  nothing  more : 

"  He  is  heavily  short  of  Textiles. 

It  was  indeed  a  trap.  The  new  issue  was  a 
blind.  He  had  challenged  me  to  attack  his  stock, 
and  as  soon  as  I  did,  he  had  begun  secretly  to  sell 
it  for  a  fall.  I  worked  at  this  new  situation  until 
midnight,  trying  to  get  together  the  proofs.  At 
that  hour  —  for  I  could  delay  no  longer,  and  my 
proofs  were  not  quite  complete  —  I  sent  my  news 
papers  two  sentences: 

"  To-morrow  I  shall  make  a  disclosure  that  will 
send  Textiles  up.  Do  not  sell  Textiles !  " 


XXXIII 

MRS.  LANGDON  MAKES  A  CALL 

Next  day  Langdon's  stocks  wavered,  going  up 
a  little,  going  down  a  little,  closing  at  practically 
the  same  figures  at  which  they  had  opened.  Then 
I  sprang  my  sensation  —  that  Langdon  and  his 
particular  clique,  though  they  controlled  the  Tex 
tile  Trust,  did  not  own  so  much  as  one-fiftieth  of 
its  voting  stock.  True  "captains  of  industry " 
that  they  were,  they  made  their  profits  not  out  of 
dividends,  but  out  of  side  schemes  that  absorbed 
about  two-thirds  of  the  earnings  of  the  Trust, 
and  out  of  gambling  in  its  bonds  and  stocks.  I 
said  in  conclusion : 

"  The  largest  owner  of  the  stock  is  Walter  G. 
Edmunds,  of  Chicago  —  an  honest  man.  Send 
your  voting  proxies  to  him,  and  he  can  take  the 
Textile  Company  away  from  those  now  plunder 
ing  it." 


423 


426  THE  DELUGE 

As  the  annual  election  of  the  Trust  was  only 
six  weeks  away,  Langdon  and  his  clique  were  in 
a  panic.  They  rushed  into  the  market  and  bought 
frantically,  the  public  bidding  against  them. 
Langdon  himself  went  to  Chicago  to  reason  with 
Edmunds  —  that  is,  to  try  to  find  out  at  what 
figure  he  could  be  bought.  And  so  on,  day  after 
day,  I  faithfully  reporting  to  the  public  the  main 
occurrences  behind  the  scenes.  The  Langdon  at 
tempt  to  regain  control  by  purchases  of  stock 
failed.  He  and  his  allies  made  what  must  have 
been  to  them  appalling  sacrifices ;  but  even  at  the 
high  prices  they  offered,  comparatively  little  of 
the  stock  appeared. 

"  I've  caught  them,"  said  I  to  Joe  —  the  first 
time,  and  the  last,  during  that  campaign  that  I 
indulged  in  a  boast. 

"If  Edmunds  sticks  to  you,"  replied  cautious 
Joe. 

But  Edmunds  did  not.  I  do  not  know  at  what 
price  he  sold  himself.  Probably  it  was  pitifully 
small;  cupidity  usually  snatches  the  instant  bait 
tickles  its  nose.  But  I  do  know  that  my  faith  in 
human  nature  got  its  severest  shock. 

"  You  are  down  this  morning/*  said  Thornley, 
when  I  looked  in  on  him  at  his  bank.  "  I  don't 


MRS.  LANGDON  MAKES  A  CALL          427 

think  I  ever  before  saw  you  show  that  you  were 
in  low  spirits." 

"  I've  found  out  a  man  with  whom  I'd  have 
trusted  my  life/'  said  I.  "  Sometimes  I  think  all 
men  are  dishonest.  I've  tried  to  be  an  optimist 
like  you,  and  have  told  myself  that  most  men 
must  be  honest  or  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  busi 
ness  couldn't  be  done  on  credit  as  it  is." 

Thornley  smiled,  like  an  old  man  at  the  enthu 
siasm  of  a  youngster.  "  That  proves  nothing  as 
to  honesty,"  said  he.  "  It  simply  shows  that  men 
can  be  counted  on  to  do  what  it  is  to  their  plain 
interest  to  do.  The  truth  is  —  and  a  fine  truth, 
too  —  most  men  wish  and  try  to  be  honest.  Give 
'em  a  chance  to  resist  their  own  weaknesses. 
Don't  trust  them.  Trust  —  that's  the  making  of 
false  friends  and  the  filling  of  jails." 

"  And  palaces,"  I  added. 

"  And  palaces,"  assented  he.  "  Every  vast  for 
tune  is  a  monument  to  the  credulity  of  man.  In 
stead  of  getting  after  these  heavy-laden  rascals, 
Matthew,  you'd  better  have  turned  your  atten 
tion  to  the  public  that  has  made  rascals  of  them 
by  leaving  its  property  unguarded." 

Fortunately,  Edmunds  had  held  out,  or,  rather, 
Langdon  had  delayed  approaching  him,  long 


428  THE  DELUGE 

enough  for  me  to  gain  my  main  point.  The  up 
roar  over  the  Textile  Trust  had  become  so  great 
that  the  national  Department  of  Commerce  dared 
not  refuse  an  investigation ;  and  I  straightway  be 
gan  to  spread  out  in  my  daily  letters  the  facts  of 
the  Trust's  enormous  earnings  and  of  the  shame 
ful  sources  of  those  earnings.  Thanks  to  Lang- 
don's  political  pull,  the  president  appointed  as 
investigator  one  of  those  rascals  who  carefully 
build  themselves  good  reputations  to  enable  them 
to  charge  higher  prices  for  dirty  work.  But,  with 
my  facts  before  the  people,  whitewash  was  impos 
sible. 

I  was  expecting  emissaries  from  Langdon,  for 
I  knew  he  must  now  be  actually  in  straits.  Even 
the  Universal  Life  didn't  dare  lend  him  money; 
and  was  trying  to  call  in  the  millions  it  had 
loaned  him.  But  I  was  astounded  when  my  pri 
vate  door  opened  and  Mrs.  Langdon  ushered 
herself  in. 

"  Don't  blame  your  boy,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  cried 
she  gaily,  exasperatingly  confident  that  I  was  as 
delighted  with  her  as  she  was  with  herself.  "  I 
told  him  you  were  expecting  me  and  didn't  give 
him  a  chance  to  stop  me." 

I  assumed  she  had  come  to  give  me  wholly  un- 


MRS.  LANGDON  MAKES  A  CALL          429 

deserved  thanks  for  revenging  her  upon  her  re 
creant  husband.  I  tried  to  look  civil  and  courte 
ous,  but  I  felt  that  my  face  was  darkening  —  her 
very  presence  forced  forward  things  I  had  been 
keeping  in  the  far  background  of  my  mind. 
"  How  can  I  be  of  service  to  you,  Madam  ? " 
said  L 

"  I  bring  you  good  news,"  she  replied  —  and 
I  noted  that  she  no  longer  looked  haggard  and 
wretched,  that  her  beauty  was  once  more  smiling 
with  a  certain  girlishness,  like  a  young  widow's 
when  she  finds  her  consolation.  "  Mowbray  and 
I  have  made  it  up,"  she  explained. 

I  simply  listened,  probably  looking  as  grim  as 
I  felt. 

"  I  knew  you  would  be  interested,"  she  went 
on.  "  Indeed,  it  means  almost  as  much  to  you  as 
to  me.  It  brings  peace  to  two  families." 

Still  I  did  not  relax. 

"  And  so,"  she  continued,  a  little  uneasy,  "  I 
came  to  you  immediately." 

I  continued  to  listen,  as  if  I  were  waiting  for 
her  to  finish  and  depart. 

"If  you  want,  I'll  go  to  Anita."  Natural 
feminine  tact  would  have  saved  her  from  this  raw 
ness  ;  but,  convinced  that  she  was  a  "  great  lady  " 


430  THE  DELUGE 

by  the  flattery  of  servants  and  shopkeepers  and 
sensational  newspapers  and  social  climbers,  she 
had  discarded  tact  as  worthy  only  of  the  lowly 
and  of  the  aspiring  before  they  "  arrive." 

"  You  are  too  kind,"  said  I.  "  Mrs.  Blacklock 
and  I  feel  competent  to  take  care  of  our  own 
affairs." 

"  Please,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  she  said,  realizing 
that  she  had  blundered,  "  don't  take  my  direct 
ness  the  wrong  way.  Life  is  too  short  for  pose 
and  pretense  about  the  few  things  that  really  mat 
ter.  Why  shouldn't  we  be  frank  with  each 
other?"  ' 

"  I  trust  you  will  excuse  me,"  said  I,  moving 
toward  the  door  —  I  had  not  seated  myself  when 
she  did.  "  I  think  I  have  made  it  clear  that  we 
have  nothing  to  discuss." 

"  You  have  the  reputation  of  being  generous 
and  too  big  for  hatred.  That  is  why  I  have  come 
to  you,"  said  she,  her  expression  confirming  my 
suspicion  of  the  real  and  only  reason  for  her 
visit.  "  Mowbray  and  I  are  completely  recon 
ciled  —  completely,  you  understand.  And  I  want 
you  to  be  generous,  and  not  keep  on  with  this 
attack.  I  am  involved  even  more  than  he.  He 
has  used  up  his  fortune  in  defending  mine.  Now, 


MRS.  LANGDON  MAKES  A  CALL          43  r 

you  are  simply  trying  to  ruin  me  —  not  him,  but 
me.  The  president  is  a  friend  of  Mowbray's, 
and  he'll  call  off  this  horrid  investigation,  and 
everything'll  be  all  right,  if  you'll  only  stop." 

"  Who  sent  you  here?  "  I  asked. 

"  I  came  of  my  own  accord,"  she  protested. 
Then,  realizing  from  the  sound  of  her  voice  that 
she  could  not  have  convinced  me  with  a  tone  so 
unconvincing,  she  hedged  with :  "  It  was  my 
own  suggestion,  really  it  was." 

"  Your  husband  permitted  you  to  come  —  and 
to  me?" 

She  flushed. 

"  And  you  have  accepted  his  overtures  when 
you  knew  he  made  them  only  because  he  needed 
your  money  ?  " 

She  hung  her  head.     "  I  love  him,"  she  said 

simply.     Then  she  looked  straight  at  me  and  I 

.  liked  her  expression.     "  A  woman  has  no  false 

pride  when  love  is  at  stake,"  she  said.     "  We 

leave  that  to  you  men." 

"  Love ! "  I  retorted,  rather  satirically,  I 
imagine.  "  How  much  had  your  own  imperiled 
fortune  to  do  with  your  being  so  forgiving?  " 

"  Something,"  she  admitted.  "  You  must  re 
member  I  have  children.  I  must  think  of  their 


432  THE  DELUGE 

future.  I  don't  want  them  to  be  poor.  I  want 
them  to  have  the  station  they  were  born  to."  She 
went  to  one  of  the  windows  overlooking  the  street. 
"  Look  here!  "  she  said. 

I  stood  beside  her.  The  window  was  not  far 
above  the  street  level.  Just  below  us  was  a  hand 
some  victoria,  coachman,  harness,  horses,  all  most 
proper,  a  footman  rigid  at  the  step.  A  crowd 
had  gathered  round  —  in  those  stirring  days 
when  I  was  the  chief  subject  of  conversation 
wherever  men  were  interested  in  money  —  and 
where  are  they  not  ?  —  there  was  almost  always 
a  crowd  before  my  offices.  In  the  carriage  sat 
two  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  hardly  more  than 
babies.  They  were  gorgeously  overdressed,  after 
the  vulgar  fashion  of  aristocrats  and  apers  of 
aristocracy.  They  sat  stiffly,  like  little  scions  of 
royalty,  with  that  expression  of  complacent  su 
periority  which  one  so  often  sees  on  the  faces  of 
the  little  children  of  the  very  rich  —  and  some 
not  so  little,  too.  The  thronging  loungers,  most 
of  them  either  immigrant  peasants  from  European 
caste  countries  or  the  un-disinfected  sons  of  peas 
ants,  were  gaping  in  true  New  York  "lower 
class  "  awe ;  the  children  were  literally  swelling 
with  delighted  vanity.  If  they  had  been  pam- 


MRS.  LANGDON  MAKES  A  CALL          433 

pered  pet  dogs,  one  would  have  laughed.  As 
they  were  human  beings,  it  filled  me  with  sadness 
and  pity.  What  ignorance,  what  stupidity  to 
bring  up  children  thus  in  democratic  America  — 
democratic  to-day,  inevitably  more  democratic  to 
morrow  !  What  a  turning  away  from  the  light ! 
What  a  crime  against  the  children ! 

"  For  their  sake,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  she  pleaded, 
her  mother  love  wholly  hiding  from  her  the  fea 
tures  of  the  spectacle  that  for  me  shrieked  like 
scarlet  against  a  white  background. 

"  Your  husband  has  deceived  you  about  your 
fortune,  Mrs.  Langdon,"  I  said  gently,  for  there 
is  to  me  something  pathetic  in  ignorance  and  I 
was  not  blaming  her  for  her  folly  and  her  crime 
against  her  children.  "  You  can  tell  him  what 
I  am  about  to  say,  or  not,  as  you  please.  But  my 
advice  is  that  you  keep  it  to  yourself.  Even  if 
the  present  situation  develops  as  seems  probable, 
develops  as  Mr.  Langdon  fears,  you  will  not  be 
left  without  a  fortune  —  a  very  large  fortune, 
most  people  would  think.  But  Mr.  Langdon  will 
have  little  or  nothing  —  indeed,  I  think  he  is 
practically  dependent  on  you  now." 

"  What  I  have  is  his,"  she  said. 

"That  is  generous/'  replied  I,  not  especially 


434  THE  DELUGE 

impressed  by  a  sentiment,  the  very  uttering  of 
which  raised  a  strong  doubt  of  its  truth.  "  But 
is  it  prudent  ?  You  wish  to  keep  him  —  securely. 
Don't  tempt  him  by  a  generosity  he  would  only 
abuse." 

She  thought  it  over.  "  The  idea  of  holding  a 
man  in  that  way  is  repellent  to  me,"  said  she,  now 
obviously  posing. 

"  If  the  man  happens  to  be  one  that  can  be  held 
in  no  other  way,"  said  I,  moving  significantly 
toward  the  door,  "  one  must  overcome  one's  re 
pugnance  —  or  be  despoiled  and  abandoned." 

"  Thank  you,"  she  said,  giving  me  her  hand. 
"  Thank  you  —  more  than  I  can  say."  She  had 
forgotten  entirely  that  she  came  to  plead  for 
her  husband.  "And  I  hope  you  will  soon  be 
as  happy  as  I  am."  That  last  in  New  York's 
funniest  "  great  lady  "  style. 

I  bowed,  and  when  there  was  the  closed  door 
between  us,  I  laughed,  not  at  all  pleasantly. 
"This  New  York!"  I  said  aloud.  "This  New 
York  that  dabbles  its  slime  of  sordidness  and 
snobbishness  on  every  flower  in  the  garden  of 
human  nature.  New  York  that  destroys  pride 
and  substitutes  vanity  for  it.  New  York  with 
its  petty,  mischievous  class-makers,  the  pattern  for 


MRS.  LANGDON  MAKES  A  CALL 


435 


the  rich  and  the  '  smarties  '  throughout  the  coun 
try.  These  '  cut-out '  minds  and  hearts,  the  best 
of  them  incapable  of  growth  and  calloused  wher 
ever  the  scissors  of  conventionality  have  snipped." 

I  took  from  my  pocket  the  picture  of  Anita  I  al 
ways  carried.  "  Are  you  like  that  ?  "  I  demanded 
of  it.  And  it  seemed  to  answer:  'Yes, —  I 
am."  Did  I  tear  the  picture  up?  No.  I  kissed 
it  as  if  it  were  the  magnetic  reality.  "  I  don't 
care  what  you  are !  "  I  cried.  "  I  want  you !  I 
want  you ! " 

"  Fool ! "  you  are  saying.  Precisely  what  I 
called  myself.  And  you?  Is  it  the  one  you 
ought  to  love  that  you  give  your  heart  to?  Is 
it  the  one  that  understands  you  and  sympathizes 
with  you  ?  Or  is  it  the  one  whose  presence  gives 
you  visions  of  paradise  and  whose  absence  blots 
out  the  light? 

I  loved  her.  Yet  I  will  say  this  much  for 
myself:  I  still  would  not  have  taken  her  on  any 
terms  that  did  not  make  her  really  mine. 


XXXIV 


MY  RIGHT  EYE  OFFENDS  ME  " 


Now  that  Updegraff  is  dead,  I  am  free  td 
tell  of  our  relations. 

My  acquaintance  with  him  was  more  casual 
than  with  any  other  of  "  The  Seven."  From 
the  outset  of  my  career  I  made  it  a  rule  never 
to  deal  with  understrappers,  always  to  get  in 
touch  with  the  man  who  had  the  final  say.  Thus, 
as  the  years  went  by,  I  grew  into  intimacy  with 
the  great  men  of  finance  where  many  with  bet 
ter  natural  facilities  for  knowing  them  remained 
in  an  outer  circle.  But  with  Updegraff,  inter 
ested  only  in  enterprises  west  of  the  Mississippi 
and  keeping  Denver  as  his  legal  residence  and 
exploiting  himself  as  a  Western  man  who  hated 
Wall  Street,  I  had  a  mere  bowing  acquaintance. 
This  was  unimportant,  however,  as  each  knew  the 
other  well  by  reputation.  Our  common  inti 
macies  made  us  intimates  for  all  practical  pur 
poses. 

436 


"MY  RIGHT  EYE  OFFENDS  ME"         '437 

Our  connection  was  established  soon  after  the 
development  of  my  campaign  against  the  Tex 
tile  Trust  had  shown  that  I  was  after  a  big  bag 
of  the  biggest  game.  We  happened  to  have  the 
same  secret  broker;  and  I  suppose  it  was  in  his 
crafty  brain  that  the  idea  of  bringing  us  together 
was  born.  Be  that  as  it  may,  he  by  gradual 
stages  intimated  to  me  that  UpdegrafI  would  con 
vey  me  secrets  of  "  The  Seven  "  in  exchange  for  a 
guarantee  that  I  would  not  attack  his  interests.  I 
do  not  know  what  his  motive  in  this  treachery 
was  —  probably  a  desire  to  curb  the  power  of  his 
associates  in  industrial  despotism. 

Each  of  "  The  Seven  "  hated  and  feared  and 
suspected  the  other  six  with  far  more  than  the 
ordinary  and  proverbial  rich  man's  jealous  dis 
like  of  other  rich  men.  There  was  not  one  of 
them  that  did  not  bear  the  ever-smarting  scars  of 
vicious  wounds,  front  and  back,  received  from 
his  fellows ;  there  was  not  one  that  did  not  cherish 
the  hope  of  overthrowing  the  rule  of  Seven  and 
establishing  the  rule  of  One.  At  any  rate,  I  ac 
cepted  UpdegrafFs  proposition;  henceforth, 
though  he  stopped  speaking  to  me  when  we  hap 
pened  to  meet,  as  did  all  the  other  big  bandits 
and  most  of  their  parasites  and  procurers,  he 


438  THE  DELUGE 

kept  me  informed  of  every  act  "  The  Seven  "  re 
solved  upon. 

Thus  I  knew  all  about  their  "  gentlemen's 
agreement  "  to  support  the  stock  market,  and  that 
they  had  made  Tavistock  their  agent  for  resisting 
any  and  all  attempts  to  lower  prices,  and  had 
given  him  practically  unlimited  funds  to  draw 
upon  as  he  needed.  I  had  Tavistock  sounded  on 
every  side,  but  found  no  weak  spot.  There  was 
no  rascality  he  would  not  perpetrate  for  whoever 
employed  him;  but  to  his  employer  he  was  as 
loyal  as  a  woman  to  a  bad  man.  And  for  a  time 
it  looked  as  if  "The  Seven"  had  checkmated 
me.  Those  outsiders  who  had  invested  heavily 
in  the  great  enterprises  through  which  "  The 
Seven  "  ruled  were  disposing  of  their  holdings  — • 
cautiously,  through  fear  of  breaking  the  mar 
ket.  Money  would  pile  up  in  the  banks  —  money 
paid  out  by  "  The  Seven  "  for  their  bonds  and 
stocks,  of  which  the  people  had  become  deeply 
suspicious.  Then  these  deposits  would  be  with 
drawn —  and  I  knew  they  were  going  into  real 
estate  investments,  because  news  of  booms  in 
real  estate  and  in  building  was  coming  in  from 
everywhere.  But  prices  on  the  Stock  Exchange 
continued  to  advance. 


"MY  RIGHT  EYE  OFFENDS  ME"          439 

"  They  are  too  strong  for  you,"  said  Joe. 
"  They  will  hold  the  market  up  until  the  public 
loses  faith  in  you.  Then  they  will  sell  out  at 
top-notch  prices  as  the  people  rush  in  to  buy." 

I  might  have  wavered  had  I  not  been  seeing 
Tavistock  every  day.  He  continued  to  wear  his 
devil-may-care  air;  but  I  observed  that  he  was 
aging  swiftly  —  and  I  knew  what  that  meant. 
Fighting  all  day  to  prevent  breaks  in  the  crucial 
stocks;  planning  most  of  the  night  how  to  pre 
vent  breaks  the  next  day;  watching  the  reserve 
resources  of  "  The  Seven "  melt  away.  Those 
reserves  were  vast ;  also,  "  The  Seven  "  controlled 
the  United  States  Treasury,  and  were  using  its 
resources  as  their  own;  they  were  buying  se 
curities  that  would  be  almost  worthless  if  they 
lost,  but  if  they  won,  would  be  rebought  by  the 
public  at  the  old  swindling  prices,  when  "  confi 
dence  "  was  restored.  But  there  was  I,  cannonad 
ing  incessantly  from  my  impregnable  position ;  as 
fast  as  they  repaired  breaches  in  their  walls,  my 
big  guns  of  publicity  tore  new  breaches.  No 
wonder  Tavistock  had  thinner  hair  and  wrinkles 
and  a  drawn  look  about  the  eyes,  nose  and 
mouth. 

With  the  battle  thus  raging  all  along  the  line, 


44Q  THE  DELUGE 

on  the  one  side  "  The  Seven  "  and  their  armies 
of  money  and  mercenaries  and  impressed  slaves, 
on  the  other  side  the  public,  I  in  command,  you 
will  say  that  my  yearning  for  distraction  must 
have  been  gratified.  If  the  road  from  his  cell 
were  long  enough,  the  condemned  man  would  be 
fretting-  less  about  the  gallows  than  about  the 
tight  shoe  that  was  making  him  limp  and  wince 
at  every  step.  Besides,  in  human  affairs  it  is 
the  personal,  always  the  personal.  I  soon  got 
used  to  the  crowds,  to  the  big  head-lines  in  the 
newspapers,  to  the  routine  of  cannonade  and  re 
ply.  But  the  old  thorn,  pressing  persistently  — 
I  could  not  get  used  to  that.  In  the  midst  of  the 
adulation,  of  the  blares  upon  the  trumpets  of  fame 
that  saluted  my  waking  and  were  wafted  to  me 
as  I  fell  asleep  at  night  —  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
turmoil,  I  was  often  in  a  great  and  brooding 
silence,  longing  for  her,  now  with  the  imperious 
energy  of  passion,  and  now  with  the  sad  ache 
of  love.  What  was  she  doing?  What  was  she 
thinking?  Now  that  Langdon  had  again  played 
her  false  for  the  old  price,  with  what  eyes  was 
she  looking  into  the  future? 

Alva,  settled  in  a  West  Side  apartment  not 
far  from  the  ancestral  white  elephant,  telephoned, 


"MY  RIGHT  EYE  OFFENDS  ME" 

asking  me  to  come.  I  went,  because  she  could 
and  would  give  me  news  of  Anita,  But  as  I  en 
tered  her  little  drawing-room,  I  said :  "  It  was 
curiosity  that  brought  me.  I  wished  to  see 
how  you  were  installed." 

"  Isn't  it  nice  and  small?  "  cried  she.  "  Billy 
and  I  haven't  the  slightest  difficulty  in  finding 
each  other —  as  people  so  often  have  in  the  big 
houses."  And  it  was  Billy  this  and  Billy  that, 
and  what  Billy  said  and  thought  and  felt  —  and 
before  they  were  married,  she  had  called  him 
William,  and  had  declared  "Billy"  to  be  the 
most  offensive  combination  of  letters  that  ever 
fell  from  human  lips. 

"  I  needn't  ask  if  you  are  happy,"  said  I  pres 
ently,  with  a  dismal  failure  at  looking  cheerful. 
"  I  can't  stay  but  a  moment,"  I  added,  and  if  I 
had  obeyed  my  feelings,  I'd  have  risen  up  and 
taken  myself  and  my  pain  away  from  surround 
ings  as  hateful  to  me  as  a  summer  sunrise  in  a 
death-chamber. 

"  Oh ! "  she  exclaimed,  in  some  confusion. 
"  Then  excuse  me."  And  she  hastened  from  the 
room. 

I  thought  she  had  gone  to  order,  or  perriaps 
to  bring,  the  tea.  The  long  minutes  dragged 


442 


THE  DELUGE 


away  until  ten  had  passed.  Hearing  a  rustling 
in  the  hall,  I  rose,  intending  to  take  leave  the 
instant  she  appeared.  The  rustling  stopped  just 
outside.  I  waited  a  few  seconds,  cried,  "  Well, 
I'm  off.  Next  time  I  want  to  be  alone,  I'll  know 
where  to  come,"  and  advanced  to  the  door.  It 
was  not  Alva  hesitating  there ;  it  was  Anita. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  I  coldly. 

If  there  had  been  room  to  pass  I  should  have 
gone.  What  devil  possessed  me?  Certainly  in 
all  our  relations  I  had  found  her  direct  and  frank, 
if  anything,  too  frank.  Doubtless  it  was  the  in 
fluence  of  my  associations  down  town,  where  for 
so  many  months  I  had  been  dealing  with  the 
"  short-card  "  crowd  of  high  finance,  who  would 
hardly  play  the  game  straight  even  when  that  was 
the  easy  way  to  win.  My  long,  steady  stretch  in 
that  stealthy  and  sinuous  company  had  put  me 
in  the  state  of  mind  in  which  it  is  impossible  to 
credit  any  human  being  with  a  motive  that  is 
decent  or  an  action  that  is  not  a  dead- fall.  Thus 
the  obvious  transformation  in  her  made  no  im 
pression  on  me.  Her  haughtiness,  her  coldness, 
were  gone,  and  with  them  had  gone  all  that  had 
been  least  like  her  natural  self,  most  like  the 
repellent  conventional  pattern  to  which  her 


"MY  RIGHT  EYE  OFFENDS  ME"          443 

mother  and  her  associates  had  molded  her.  But 
I  was  saying  to  myself:  "A  trap!  Langdon 
has  gone  back  to  his  wife.  She  turns  to  me."* 
And  I  loved  her  and  hated  her.  "  Never/' 
thought  I,  "  has  she  shown  so  poor  an  opinion  of 


me  as  now." 


"  My  uncle  told  me  day  before  yesterday  that 
it  was  not  he  but  you,"  she  said,  lifting  her  eyes 
to  mine.  It  is  inconceivable  to  me  now  that  I 
could  have  misread  their  honest  story;  yet  I 
did. 

"  I  had  no  idea  your  uncle's  notion  of  honor 
was  also  eccentric,"  said  I,  with  a  satirical  smile 
that  made  the  blood  rush  to  her  face. 

"  That  is  unjust  to  him,"  she  replied  earnestly. 

"  He  says  he  made  you  no  promise  of  secrecy. 
And  he  confessed  to  me  only  because  he  wished 
to  convince  me  that  he  had  good  reason  for  his- 
high  opinion  of  yotLM 

"  Really!''  said  I  ironically.  "And  no  doubt 
he  found  you  open  wide  to  conviction  —  now" 
This  a  subtlety  to  let  her  know  that  I  understood 
why  she  was  seeking  me. 

"  No,"  she  answered,  lowering  her  eyes.  "  I 
knew  —  better  than  he." 

For  an  instant  this,  spoken  in  a  voice  I  had 


444  THE  DELUGE 

long  given  up  hope  of  ever  hearing  from  her, 
staggered  my  cynical  conviction.  But  — "  Pos 
sibly  she  thinks  she  is  sincere/'  reasoned  my  head 
with  my  heart ;  "  even  the  sincerest  women, 
brought  up  as  was  she,  always  have  the  calculator 
underneath ;  they  deny  it,  they  don't  know  it  often, 
but  there  it  is ;  with  them,  calculation  is  as  invol 
untary  and  automatic  as  their  pulse."  So,  I  said 
to  her,  mockingly :  "  Doubtless  your  opinion  of  me 
has  been  improving  steadily  ever  since  you  heard 
that  Mrs.  Langdon  had  recovered  her  husband." 

She  winced,  as  if  I  had  struck  her.  "  Oh ! " 
she  murmured.  If  she  had  been  the  ordinary 
woman,  who  in  every  crisis  with  man  instinctively 
resorts  to  weakness*  strongest  weakness,  tears,  I 
might  have  a  different  story  to  tell.  But  she 
fought  back  the  tears  in  which  her  eyes  were 
swimming  and  gathered  herself  together.  "  That 
is  brutal,"  she  said,  with  not  a  touch  of  haughti 
ness,  but  not  humbly,  either.  "  But  I  deserve  it." 

"There  was  a  time,"  I  went  on,  swept  in  a 
swift  current  of  cold  rage,  "  there  was  a  time  when 
I  would  have  taken  you  on  almost  any  terms.  A 
man  never  makes  a  complete  fool  of  himself 
about  a  woman  but  once  in  his  life,  they  say.  I 
have  done  my  stretch  —  and  it  is  over." 


"MY  RIGHT  EYE  OFFENDS  ME*         445 

She  sighed  wearily.  "  Langdon  came  to  see 
me  soon  after  I  left  your  house,  and  went  to  my 
uncle/'  she  said.  "  I  will  tell  you  what  hap 
pened." 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  hear,"  replied  I,  adding 
pointedly,  "  I  have  been  waiting  ever  since  you 
left  for  news  of  your  plans/' 

She  grew  white,  and  my  heart  smote  me.  She 
came  into  the  room  and  seated  herself.  "  Won't 
you  stop,  please,  for  a  moment  longer  ?  "  she  said. 
"  I  hope  that,  at,  least,  we  can  part  without  bit 
terness.  I  understand  now  that  everything  is 
over  between  us.  A  woman's  vanity  makes  her 
belief  that  a  man  cares  for  her  die  hard.  I  am 
convinced  now  —  I  assure  you,  I  am.  I  shall 
trouble  you  no  more  about  the  past.  But  I  have 
the  right  to  ask  you  to  hear  me  when  I  say  that 
Langdon  came,  and  that  I  myself  sent  him  away ; 
sent  him  back  to  his  wife." 

"  Touching  self-sacrifice/'  said  I  ironically. 

"  No,"  she  replied.  "  I  can  not  claim  any 
credit.  I  sent  him  away  only  because  you  and 
Alva  had  taught  me  how  to  judge  him  better. 
I  do  not  despise  him  as  'do  you;  I  know  too 
well  what  has  made  him  what  he  is.  But  I 
had  to  send  him  away." 


446  THE  DELUGE 

My  comment  was  an  incredulous  look  and 
shrug.  "  I  must  be  going,"  I  said. 

"  You  do  not  believe  me  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  In  my  place,  would  you  believe?  "  replied  I. 
"  You  say  I  have  taught  you.  Well,  you  have 
taught  me,  too  —  for  instance,  that  the  years 
you've  spent  on  your  knees  in  the  musty  temple  of 
conventionality  before  false  gods  have  made  you 
—  fit  only  for  the  Langdon  sort  of  thing.  You 
can't  learn  how  to  stand  erect,  and  your  eyes 
can  not  bear  the  light." 

"  I  am  sorry/'  she  said  slowly,  hesitatingly, 
"  that  your  faith  in  me  died  just  when  I  might, 
perhaps,  have  justified  it  Our z  has  been  a  piti 
ful  series  of  misunderstandings." 

"  A  trap !  A  trap ! "  I  was  warning  myself. 
"You've  been  a  fool  long  enough,  Blacklock." 
And  aloud  I  said:  "Well,  Anita,  the  series  is 
ended  now.  There's  no  longer  any  occasion  for 
our  lying  or  posing  to  each  other.  Any  arrange 
ments  your  uncle's  lawyers  suggest  will  be  made." 

I  was  bowing,  to  leave  without  shaking  hands 
with  her.  But  she  would  not  have  it  so. 
"  Please! "  she  said,  stretching  out  her  long, 
slender  arm  and  offering  me  her  hand. 

What  a  devil  possessed  me  that  day!    With 


"MY  RIGHT  EYE  OFFENDS  ME" 


447 


every  atom  of  me  longing  for  her,  I  yet  was  able 
to  take  her  hand  and  say,  with  a  smile,  that  was, 
I  doubt  not,  as  mocking  as  my  tone :  "  By  all 
means  let  us  be  friends.  And  I  trust  you  will  not 
think  me  discourteous  if  P  say  that  I  shall  feel 
safer  in  our  friendship  when  we  are  both  on 
neutral  ground." 

As  I  was  turning  away,  her  look,  my  own 
heart,  made  me  turn  again.  I  caught  her  by  the 
shoulders.  I  gazed  into  her  eyes.  "  If  I  could 
only  trust  you,  could  only  believe  you !  "  I  cried. 

"  You  cared  for  me  when  I  wasn't  worth  it," 
she  said.  "  Now  that  I  am  more  like  what  you 
once  imagined  me,  you  do  not  care." 

Up  between  us  rose  Langdon's  face  —  cynical, 
mocking,  contemptuous.  "  Your  heart  is  his! 
You  told  me  so !  Don't  lie  to  me !  "  I  exclaimed. 
And  before  she  could  reply,  I  was  gone. 

Out  from  under  the  spell  of  her  presence,  back 
among  the  tricksters  and  assassins,  the  traps  and 
ambushes  of  Wall  Street,  I  believed  again;  be 
lieved  firmly  the  promptings  of  the  devil  that 
possessed  me.  "  She  would  have  given  you  a 
brief  fool's  paradise,"  said  that  devil.  "  Then 
what  a  hideous  awakening!"  And  I  cursed  the 
day  when  New  York's  insidious  snobbishness  had 


448  THE  DELUGE 

tempted  my  vanity  into  starting  me  on  that  de 
grading  chase  after  "  respectability." 

"If  she  does  not  move  to  free  herself  soon," 
said  I  to  myself,  "  I  will  put  my  own  lawyer  to 
work.  My  right  eye  offends  me.  I  will  pluck 
it  out." 


XXXV 

"  WILD  WEEK  " 

"  The  Seven  "  made  their  fatal  move  on  treach 
erous  UpdegrafFs  treacherous  advice,  I  suspect. 
But  they  would  not  have  adopted  his  suggestion 
had  it  not  been  so  exactly  congenial  to  their  own 
temper  of  arrogance  and  tyranny  and  contempt 
for  the  people  who  meekly,  year  after  year,  pre 
sented  themselves  for  the  shearing  with  fatuous 
bleats  of  enthusiasm. 

"  The  Seven,"  of  course,  controlled  directly,  or 
indirectly,  all  but  a  few  of  the  newspapers  with 
which  I  had  advertising  contracts.  They  also 
controlled  the  main  sources  through  which  the 
press  was  supplied  with  news  —  and  often  and 
well  they  had  used  this  control,  and  surprisingly 
cautious  had  they  been  not  so  to  abuse  it  that  the 
editors  and  the  public  would  become  suspicious. 
When  my  war  was  at  its  height,  when  I  was 
beginning  to  congratulate  myself  that  the  huge 
magazines  of  "  The  Seven  "  were  empty  almost 
449 


THE  DELUGE 

to  the  point  at  which  they  must  sue  for  peace  on 
my  own  terms,  all  in  four  days  forty-three  of  my 
sixty-seven  newspapers  —  and  they  the  most  im 
portant —  notified  me  that  they  would  no  longer 
carry  out  their  contracts  to  publish  my  daily  let 
ter.  They  gave  as  their  reason,  not  the  real  one, 
fear  of  "  The  Seven,"  but  fear  that  I  would  in 
volve  them  in  ruinous  libel  suits.  I  who  had 
legal  proof  for  every  statement  I  made;  I  who 
was  always  careful  to  understate!  Next,  one 
press  association  after  another  ceased  to  send  out 
my  letter  as  news,  though  they  had  been  doing 
so  regularly  for  months.  The  public  had  grown 
tired  of  the  "  sensation,"  they  said. 

I  countered  with  a  telegram  to  one  or  more 
newspapers  in  every  city  and  large  town  in  the 
United  States: 

" '  The  Seven '  are  trying  to  cut  the  wires  be 
tween  the  truth  and  the  public.  If  you  wish  my 
daily  letter,  telegraph  me  direct  and  I  will  send 
it  at  my  expense." 

The  response  should  have  warned  "  The  Sev 
en.'*  But  it  did  not.  Under  their  orders  the 
telegraph  companies  refused  to  transmit  the  let 
ter.  I  got  an  injunction.  It  was  obeyed  in  typi 
cal,  corrupt  corporation  fashion  —  they  sent  my 


"WILD  WEEK"  45 r 

matter,  but  so  garbled  that  it  was  unintelligible. 
I  appealed  to  the  courts.  In  vain. 

To  me,  it  was  clear  as  sun  in  cloudless  noon 
day  sky  that  there  could  be  but  one  result  of  this 
insolent  and  despotic  denial  of  my  rights  and  the 
rights  of  the  people,  this  public  confession  of  the 
truth  of  my  charges.  I  turned  everything  salable 
or  mortgageable  into  cash,  locked  the  cash  up  in 
my  private  vaults,  and  waited  for  the  cataclysm. 

Thursday  —  Friday  —  Saturday.  Apparently 
all  was  tranquil;  apparently  the  people  accepted 
the  Wall  Street  theory  that  I  was  an  "  exploded 
sensation."  "  The  Seven  "  began  to  preen  them 
selves;  the  strain  upon  them  to  maintain  prices, 
if  no  less  than  for  three  months  past,  was  not 
notably  greater;  the  crisis  would  pass,  I  and  my 
exposures  would  be  forgotten,  the  routine  of 
reaping  the  harvests  and  leaving  only  the  glean 
ings  for  the  sowers  would  soon  be  placidly  re 
sumed. 

Sunday.  Roebuck,  taken  ill  as  he  was  passing 
the  basket  in  the  church  of  which  he  was  the 
shining  light,  died  at  midnight  —  a  beautiful, 
peaceful  death,  they  say,  with  his  daughter  read 
ing  the  Bible  aloud,  and  his  lips  moving  in  prayer. 
Some  hold  that,  had  he  lived,  the  tranquillity 


452  THE  DELUGE 

would  have  continued;  but  this  is  the  view  of 
those  who  can  not  realize  that  the  tide  of  affairs 
is  no  more  controlled  by  the  "  great  men  "  than 
is  the  river  led  down  to  the  sea  by  its  surface 
flotsam,  by  which  we  measure  the  speed  and  di 
rection  of  its  current.  Under  that  terrific  ten 
sion,  which  to  the  shallow  seemed  a  calm,  some 
thing  had  to  give  way.  If  the  dam  had  not 
yielded  where  Roebuck  stood  guard,  it  must  have 
yielded  somewhere  else,  or  might  have  gone  all 
in  one  grand  crash. 

Monday.  You  know  the  story  of  the  artist 
and  his  Statue  of  Grief  —  how  he  molded  the 
features  a  hundred  times,  always  failing,  always 
getting  an  anti-climax,  until  at  last  in  despair  he 
gave  up  the  impossible  and  finished  the  statue 
with  a  veil  over  the  face.  I  have  tried  again  and 
again  to  assemble  words  that  would  give  some 
not  too  inadequate  impression  of  that  tremen 
dous  week  in  which,  with  a  succession  of  explo 
sions,  each  like  the  crack  of  doom,  the  financial 
structure  that  housed  eighty  millions  of  people 
burst,  collapsed,  was  engulfed.  I  can  not.  I 
must  leave  it  to  your  memory  or  your  imagina 
tion. 

For  years  the  financial  lea'ders,  crazed  by  the 


"WILD  WEEK"  453 

excess  of  power  which  the  people  had  in  ignorance 
and  over-confidence  and  slovenly  good-nature 
permitted  them  to  acquire,  had  been  tearing  out 
the  honest  foundations  on  which  alone  so  vast 
a  structure  can  hope  to  rest  solid  and  secure. 
They  had  been  substituting  rotten  beams  painted 
to  look  like  stone  and  iron.  The  crash  had  to 
come;  the  sooner,  the  better  —  when  a  thing  is 
wrong,  each  day's  delay  compounds  the  cost  of 
righting  it.  So,  with  all  the  horrors  of  "  Wild 
Week  "  in  mind,  all  its  physical  and  mental  suf 
fering,  all  its  ruin  and  rioting  and  bloodshed, 
I  still  can  insist  that  I  am  justly  proud  of  my 
share  in  bringing  it  about.  The  blame  and  the 
shame  are  wholly  upon  those  who  made  "  Wild 
Week"  necessary  and  inevitable. 

In  catastrophes,  the  cry  is  "  Each  for  himself !  " 
But  in  a  cataclysm,  the  obvious  wise  selfishness 
is  generosity,  and  the  cry  is,  "  Stand  together, 
for,  singly,  we  perish."  This  was  a  cataclysm. 
No  one  could  save  himself,  except  the  few  who, 
taking  my  often-urged  advice  and  following  my 
example,  had  entered  the  ark  of  ready  money. 
Farmer  and  artisan  and  professional  man  and 
laborer  owed  merchant;  merchant  owed  banker; 
banker  owed  depositor.  No  one  could  pay  be- 


THE  DELUGE 

cause  no  one  could  get  what  was  due  him  or 
could  realize  upon  his  property.  The  endless 
chain  of  credit  that  binds  together  the  whole  of 
modern  society  had  snapped  in  a  thousand  places. 
It  must  be  repaired,  instantly  and  securely.  But 
how  —  and  t>y  whom  ? 

I  issued  a  clear  statement  of  the  situation;  I 
showed  in  minute  detail  how  the  people  standing 
together  under  the  leadership  of  the  honest  men 
of  property  could  easily  force  the  big  bandits  to 
consent  to  an  honest,  just,  rock-founded,  iron- 
built  reconstruction.  My  statement  appeared  in 
all  the  morning  papers  throughout  the  land. 
Turn  back  to  it;  read  it.  You  will  say  that  I  was 
right  Well  — 

Toward  two  o'clock  Inspector  Crawford  came 
into  my  private  office,  escorted  by  Joe.  I  saw 
in  Joe's  seamed,  green-gray  face  that  some  new 
danger  had  arisen.  "  You've  got  to  get  out  of 
this,"  said  he.  "  The  mob  in  front  of  our  place 
fills  the  three  streets.  It's  made  up  of  crowds 
turned  away  from  the  suspended  banks." 

I  remembered  the  sullen  faces  and  the  hisses 
as  I  entered  the  office  that  morning  earlier  than 
usual.  My  windows  were  closed  to  keep  out  the 
street  noises;  but  now  that  my  mind  was  up 


"WILD  WEEK"  455 

from  the  work  in  which  I  had  been  absorbed,  I 
could  hear  the  sounds  of  many  voices,  even 
through  the  thick  plate  glass. 

"  We've  got  two  hundred  policemen  here," 
said  the  inspector.  "  Five  hundred  more  are  on 
the  way.  But  —  really,  Mr.  Blacklock,  unless  we 
can  get  you  away,  there'll  be  serious  trouble. 
Those  damn  newspapers !  Every  one  of  them  de 
nounced  you  this  morning,  and  the  people  are  in 
a  fury  against  you." 

I  went  toward  the  door. 

"  Hold  on,  Matt !  "  cried  Joe,  springing  at  me 
and  seizing  me,  "  Where  are  you  going?  " 

"  To  tell  them  what  I  think  of  them,"  replied  I, 
sweeping  him  aside.  For  my  blood  was  up,  and 
I  was  enraged  against  the  poor  cowardly  fools. 

"For  God's  sake  don't  show  yourself!"  he 
begged.  "  If  you  don't  care  for  your  own  life, 
think  of  the  rest  of  us.  WeVe  fixed  a  route 
through  buildings  and  under  streets  up  to  Broad 
way.  Your  electric  is  waiting  for  you  there." 

"It  won't  do,"  I  said.  "I'll  face  'em  — it's 
the  only  way." 

I  went  to  the  window,  and  was  about  to  throw 
up  one  of  the  sunblinds  for  a  look  at  them ;  Craw 
ford  stopped  me.  "They'll  stone  the  building 


45°* 


THE  DELUGE 


and  then  storm  it,"  said  he.  "  You  must  go  at 
once,  by  the  route  we've  arranged." 

"  Even  if  you  tell  them  I'm  gone,  they  won't 
believe  it,"  replied  I. 

"  We  can  look  out  for  that,"  said  Joe,  eager  to 
save  me,  and  caring  nothing  about  consequences 
to  himself.  But  I  had  unsettled  the  inspector. 

"  Send  for  my  electric  to  come  down  here," 
said  I.  "  I'll  go  out  alone  and  get  in  it  and 
drive  away/' 

"That'll  never  do!"  cried  Joe. 

But  the  inspector  said:  "You're  right,  Mr. 
Blacklock.  It's  a  bare  chance.  You  may  take 
'em  by  surprise.  Again,  some  fellow  may  yell 
and  throw  a  stone  and — "  He  did  not  need  to 
finish. 

Joe  looked  wildly  at  me.  "  You  mustn't  do 
it,  Matt !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  You'll  precipitate  a 
riot,  Crawford,  if  you  permit  this." 

But  the  inspector  was  telephoning  for  my  elec 
tric.  Then  he  went  into  the  adjoining  room, 
where  he  commanded  a  view  of  the  entrance. 
Silence  between  Joe  and  me  until  he  returned. 

"  The  electric  is  coming  down  the  street,"  said 
he. 

I  rose.    "  Good,"  said  I.     "  I'm  ready." 


"WILD  WEEK"  457 

"  Wait  until  the  other  police  get  here,"  ad 
vised  Crawford. 

"  If  the  mob  is  in  the  temper  you  describe," 
said  I,  "  the  less  that's  done  to  irritate  it  the  bet 
ter.  I  must  go  out  as  if  I  hadn't  a  suspicion  of 
danger." 

The  inspector  eyed  me  with  an  expression  that 
was  highly  flattering  to  my  vanity. 

"  I'll  go  with  you,"  said  Joe,  starting  up  from 
his  stupor. 

"  No,"  I  replied.  "  You  and  the  other  fellows 
can  take  the  underground  route,  if  it's  necessary." 

"  It  won't  be  necessary,"  put  in  the  inspector. 
"  As  soon  as  I'm  rid  of  you  and  have  my  addi 
tional  force,  I'll  clear  the  streets."  He  went  to 
the  door.  "  Wait,  Mr.  Blacklock,  until  I've  had 
time  to  get  out  to  my  men." 

Perhaps  ten  seconds  after  he  disappeared,  I, 
without  further  words,  put  on  my  hat,  lit  a  cigar, 
shook  Joe's  wet,  trembling  hand,  left  in  it  my 
private  keys  and  the  memorandum  of  the  combi 
nation  of  my  private  vault.  Then  I  sallied  forth. 

I  had  always  had  a  ravenous  appetite  for  ex 
citement,  and  I  had  been  in  many  a  tight  place; 
but  for  the  first  time  there  seemed  to  me  to  be  an 
equilibrium  between  my  internal  energy  and  the 


THE  DELUGE 

outside  situation.  As  I  stepped  from  my  street 
door  and  glanced  about  me,  I  had  no  feeling  of 
danger.  The  whole  situation  seemed  so  simple. 
There  stood  the  electric,  just  across  the  narrow 
stretch  of  sidewalk ;  there  were  the  two  hundred 
police,  under  Crawford's  orders,  scattered  every 
where  through  the  crowd,  and  good-naturedly 
jostling  and  pushing  to  create  distraction.  With 
out  haste,  I  got  into  my  machine.  I  calmly  met 
the  gaze  of  those  thousands,  quiet  as  so  many 
barrels  of  gunpowder  before  the  explosion.  The 
chauffeur  turned  the  machine. 

"  Go  slow,"  I  called  to  him.  "  You  might  hurt 
somebody." 

But  he  had  his  orders  from  the  inspector.  He 
suddenly  darted  alread  at  full  speed.  The  mob 
scattered  in  every  direction,  and  we  were  in 
Broadway,  bound  up  town  full-tilt,  before  I  or 
the  mob  realized  what  he  was  about 

I  called  to  him  to  slow  down.  He  paid  not 
the  slightest  attention.  I  leaned  from  the  win 
dow  and  looked  up  at  him.  It  was  not  my  chauf 
feur  ;  it  was  a  man  who  had  the  unmistakable  but 
indescribable  marks  of  the  plain-clothes  police 
man. 

"Where  are  you  going?"  I  shouted 


"WILD  WEEK"  459 

"  You'll  find  out  when  we  arrive,"  he  shouted 
back,  grinning. 

I  settled  myself  and  waited  —  what  else  was 
there  to  do  ?  Soon  I  guessed  we  were  headed  for 
the  pier  off  which  my  yacht  was  anchored.  As 
we  dashed  on  to  it,  I  saw  that  it  was  filled  with 
police,  both  in  uniform  and  in  plain  clothes.  I 
descended.  A  detective  sergeant  stepped  up  to 
me.  "  We  are  here  to  help  you  to  your  yacht," 
he  explained.  "  You  wouldn't  be  safe  anywhere 
in  New  York  —  no  more  would  the  place  that 
harbored  you." 

He  had  both  common  sense  and  force  on  his 
side.  I  got  into  the  launch.  Four  detective  ser 
geants  accompanied  me  and  went  aboard  with 
me.  "  Go  ahead,"  said  one  of  them  to  my  cap 
tain.  He  looked  at  me  for  orders. 

"  We  are  in  the  hands  of  our  guests/'  s?:d  I. 
"  Let  them  have  their  way." 

We  steamed  down  the  bay  and  out  to  sea. 

From  Maine  to  Texas  the  cry  rose  and  swelled : 
"  Blacklock  is  responsible  1  What  does  it  matter 
whether  he  lied  or  told  the  truth?     See  the  re 
sults  of  his  crusade!    He  ought  to  be  pilloried! 
He  ought  to  be  killed!    He  is  the  enemy  of  the 


460  THE  DELUGE 

human  race.  He  has  almost  plunged  the  whole 
civilized  world  into  bankruptcy  and  civil  war." 
And  they  turned  eagerly  to  the  very  autocrats 
who  had  been  oppressing  them.  "  You  have  the 
genius  for  finance  and  industry.  Save  us !  " 

If  you  did  not  know,  you  could  guess  how 
those  patriots  with  the  "genius  for  finance  and 
industry "  responded.  When  they  had  done, 
when  their  program  was  in  effect,  Langdon,  Mel 
ville  and  Updegraff  were  the  three  richest  men 
in  the  country,  and  as  powerful  as  Octavius,  An 
tony  and  Lepidus  after  Philippi.  They  had 
saddled  upon  the  reorganized  finance  and  indus 
try  of  the  nation  heavier  taxes  than  ever,  and  a 
vaster  and  more  expensive  and  more  luxurious 
army  of  their  parasites. 

The  people  had  risen  for  financial  and  indus 
trial  freedom;  they  had  paid  its  fearful  price; 
then,  in  senseless  panic  and  terror,  they  flung  it 
away.  I  have  read  that  one  of  the  inscriptions 
on  Apollo's  temple  at  Delphi  was,  "  Man,  the  fool 
of  the  farce."  Truly,  the  gods  must  have  created 
us  for  their  amusement ;  and  when  Olympus  palls, 
they  ring  up  the  curtain  on  some  such  screaming 
comedy  as  was  that.  It  "  makes  the  fancy 
chuckle,  while  the  heart  doth  ache." 


XXXVI 


BLACK  MATT'S"  TRIUMPH 


My  enemies  caused  it  to  be  widely  believed  that 
"  Wild  Week  "  was  my  deliberate  contrivance  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  enriching  myself.  Thus  they 
got  me  a  reputation  for  almost  superhuman  dar 
ing,  for  satanic  astuteness  at  cold-blooded  calcu 
lation,  I  do  not  deserve  the  admiration  and  re 
spect  that  my  success-worshiping  fellow  coun 
trymen  lay  at  my  feet.  True,  I  did  greatly  en 
rich  myself ;  but  not  until  the  Monday  after  Wild 
Week. 

Not  until  I  had  pondered  on  men  and  events 
with  the  assistance  of  the  newspapers  my  detec 
tive  protectors  and  jailers  permitted  to  be  brought 
aboard  —  not  until  the  last  hope  of  turning  Wild 
Week  to  the  immediate  public  advantage  had 
sputtered  out  like  a  lost  man's  last  match,  did  I 
think  of  benefiting  myself,  of  seizing  the  oppor 
tunity  to  strengthen-  myself  for  the  future.  On 
Monday  morning,  I  said  to  Sergeant  Mulholland : 
461 


462  THE  DELUGE 

"  I  want  to  go  ashore  at  once  and  send  some  tele 
grams." 

The  sergeant  is  one  of  the  detective  bureau's 
"  dress-suit  men."  He  is  by  nature  phlegmatic 
and  cynical.  His  experience  has  put  over  that  a 
veneer  of  weary  politeness.  We  had  become  great 
friends  during  our  enforced  inseparable  compan 
ionship.  For  Joe,  who  looked  on  me  somewhat 
as  a  mother  looks  on  a  brilliant  but  erratic  son, 
had,  as  I  soon  discovered,  elaborated  a  wonderful 
program  for  me.  It  included  a  watch-  on  me  day 
and  night,  lest,  through  rage  or  despondency,  I 
should  try  to  do  violence  to  myself.  A  fine  char 
acter,  that  Joe!  But,  to  return,  Mulholland  an 
swered  my  request  for  shore-leave  with  a  soothing 
smile.  "Can't  do  it,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  he  said. 
"  Our  orders  are  positive.  But  when  we  put  in 
at  New  London  and  send  ashore  for  further  in 
structions,  and  for  the  papers,  you  can  send  in 
your  messages." 

"  As  you  please,"  said  I.  And  I  gave  him  a 
cipher  telegram  to  Joe  —  an  order  to  invest  my 
store  of  cash,  which  meant  practically  my  whole 
fortune,  in  the  gilt-edged  securities  that  were  to 
be  had  for  cash  at  a  small  fraction  of  their  value. 

This  on  the  Monday  after  Wild  Week,  please 


"  BLACK  MATT'S  "  TRIUMPH  463 

note.  I  would  have  helped  the  people  to  deliver 
themselves  from  the  bondage  of  the  bandits. 
They  would  not  have  it.  I  would  even  have  sac 
rificed  my  all  in  trying  to  save  them  in  spite  of 
themselves.  But  what  is  one  sane  man  against 
a  stampeded  multitude  of  maniacs?  For  confir 
mation  of  my  disinterestedness,  I  point  to  all  those 
weeks  and  months  during  which  I  waged  costly 
warfare  on  "  The  Seven,"  who  would  gladly  have 
given  me  more  than  I  now  have,  could  I  have 
been  bribed  to  desist.  But,  when  I  was  compelled 
to  admit  that  I  had  overestimated  my  fellow  men, 
that  the  people  wear  the  yoke  because  they  have 
not  yet  become  intelligent  and  competent  enough 
to  be  free,  then  and  not  until  then  did  I  abandon 
the  hopeless  struggle. 

And  I  did  not  go  over  to  the  bandits ;  I  simply 
resumed  my  own  neglected  personal  affairs  and 
made  Wild  .Week  at  least  a  personal  triumph. 

There  is  nothing  of  the  spectacular  in  my 
make-up.  I  have  no  belief  in  the  value  of  mar 
tyrs  and  martyrdom.  Causes  are  not  won  —  and 
in  my  humble  opinion  never  have  been  won  —  in 
the  graveyards.  Alive  and  afoot  and  armed,  and 
true  to  my  cause,  I  am  the  dreaded  menace  to 
systematic  and  respectable  robbery.  What  pos- 


464  THE  DELUGE 

sible  good  could  have  come  of  mobs  killing  me 
and  the  bandits  dividing  my  estate? 

But  why  should  I  seek  to  justify  myself?  I 
care  not  a  rap  for  the  opinion  of  my  fellow  men. 
They  sought  my  life  when  they  should  have  been 
hailing  me  as  a  deliverer;  now,  they  look  up  to 
me  because  they  falsely  believe  me  guilty  of  an 
infamy. 

My  guards  expected  to  be  recalled  on  Tuesday. 
But  Melville  heard  what  Crawford  had  done 
about  me,  and  straightway  used  his  influence  to 
have  me  detained  until  the  new  grip  of  the  old 
gang  was  secure.  Saturday  afternoon  we  put  in 
at  Newport  for  the  daily  communication  with  the 
shore.  When  the  launch  returned,  Mulholland 
brought  the  papers  to  me,  lounging  aft  in  a  mass 
of  cushions  under  the  awning.  "  We  are  going 
ashore,"  said  he.  "  The  order  has  come." 

I  had  a  sudden  sense  of  loneliness.  "  I'll  take 
you  down  to  New  York/'  said  I.  "  I  prefer  to 
land  my  guests  where  I  shipped  them." 

As  we  steamed  slowly  westward  I  read  the 
papers.  The  country  was  rapidly  readjusting 
itself,  was  returning  to  the  conditions  before  the 
upheaval.  The  "  financiers  " —  the  same  old 
gang,  except  for  a  few  of  the  weaker  brethren 


"  BLACK  MATT'S  "  TRIUMPH  -465 

ruined  and  a  few  strong  outsiders,  who  had 
slipped  in  during  the  confusion  —  were  employ 
ing  all  the  old,  familiar  devices  for  deceiving  and 
robbing  the  people.  The  upset  milking-stool  was 
righted,  and  the  milker  was  seated  again  and 
busy,  the  good  old  cow  standing  without  so  much 
as  shake  of  horn  or  switch  of  tail.  "  Mulhol 
land,"  said  I,  "  what  do  you  think  of  this  business 
of  living?  " 

"  I'll  tell  you,  Mr.  Blacklock,"  said  he.  "  I 
used  to  fuss  and  fret  a  good  deal  about  it.  But 
I  don't  any  more.  I've  got  a  house  up  in  the 
Bronx,  and  a  bit  of  land  round  it.  And  there's 
Mrs.  Mulholland  and  four  little  Mulhollands  and 
me  —  that's  my  country  and  my  party  and  my 
religion.  The  rest  is  off  my  beat,  and  I  don't 
give  a  damn  for  it.  I  don't  care  which  fakir  gets 
to  be  president,  or  which  swindler  gets  to  be 
rich.  Everything  works  out  somehow,  and  the 
best  any  man  can  do  is  to  mind  his  own  business.'* 

"  Mulholland  —  Mrs.  Mulholland  —  four  little 
Mulhollands,"  said  I  reflectively.  "  That's  about 
as  much  as  one  man  could  attend  to  properly. 
And  —  you  are  '  on  the  level,'  aren't  you  ?  " 

"  Some  say  honesty's  the  best  policy,"  replied 
he.  "  Some  say  it  isn't.  I  don't  know,  and  I 


466  THE  DELUGE 

don't  care,  whether  it  is  or  it  isn't.  It's  my 
policy.  And  we  six  seem  to  have  got  along  on 
it  so  far/' 

I  sent  my  "  guests  "  ashore  the  next  morning. 

"  No,  I'll  stay  aboard,"  said  I  to  Mulholland,  as 
he  stood  aside  for  me  to  precede  him  down  the 
gangway  from  the  launch.  I  went  into  the  watch- 
pocket  of  my  trousers  and  drew  out  the  folded 
two  one-thousand-dollar  bills  I  always  carried  — 
it  was  a  habit  formed  in  my  youthful,  gambling 
days.  I  handed  him  one  of  the  bills.  He  hesi 
tated. 

"  For  the  four  little  Mulhollands,"  I  urged. 

He  put  it  in  his  pocket.  I  watched  him  and 
his  men  depart  with  a  heavy  heart.  I  felt  alone, 
horribly  alone,  without  a  tie  or  an  interest.  Some 
of  the  morning  papers  spoke  respectfully  of  me 
as  one  of  the  strong  men  who  had  ridden  the  flood 
and  had  been  landed  by  it  on  the  heights  of  wealth 
and  power.  Admiration  and  envy  lurked  even 
in  sneers  at  my  "  unscrupulous  plotting."  Since 
I  had  wealth,  plenty  of  wealth,  I  did  not  need 
character.  Of  what  use  was  character  in  such  a 
world  except  as  a  commodity  to  exchange  for 
wealth? 

"  Any  orders,  sir  ?  "  interrupted  my  captain. 


"BLACK  MATT'S"   TRIUMPH  467 

I  looked  round  that  vast  and  vivid  scene  of 
sea  and  land  activities.  I  looked  along  the  city's 
titanic  sky-line — the  mighty  fortresses  of  trade 
and  commerce  piercing  the  heavens  and  flinging 
to  the  wind  their  black  banners  of  defiance.  I 
felt  that  I  was  under  the  walls  of  hell  itself. 

"To  get  away  from  this,"  replied  I  to  the 
waiting  captain.  "  Go  back  down  the  Sound — 
to  Dawn  Hill." 

Yes,  I  would  go  to  the  peaceful,  soothing  coun 
try,  to  my  dogs  and  horses  and  those  faithful 
servants  bound  to  me  by  our  common  love  for  the 
same  animals.  "Men  to  cross  swords  with,  to 
amuse  oneself  with,"  I  mused;  "but  dogs  and 
horses  to  live  with."  I  pictured  myself  at  the 
kennels — the  joyful  uproar  the  instant  instinct 
warned  the  dogs  of  my  coming  ;  how  they  would 
leap  and  bark  and  tremble  in  a  very  ecstasy  of 
delight  as  I  stood  among  them  ;  how  jealous  all 
the  others  would  be,  as  I  selected  one  to  caress. 

"  Send  her  ahead  as  fast  as  she'll  go,"  I  called 
to  the  captain. 

As  the  Albatross  steamed  into  the  little  harbor, 
I  saw  Mowbray  Langdon's  Indolence  at  anchor. 
I  glanced  toward  Steuben  Point — where  his 
cousins,  the  Vivians,  lived — and  thought  I  recog- 


468  THE  DELUGE 

nized  his  launch  at  their  pier.  We  saluted  the 
Indolence;  the  Indolence  saluted  us.  My  launch 
was  piped  away  and  took  me  ashore.  I  strolled 
along  the  path  that  wound  round  the  base  of  the 
hill  toward  the  kennels.  At  the  crossing 
of  the  path  down  from  the  house,  I  paused  and 
lingered  on  the  glimpse  of  one  of  the 
corner  towers  of  the  great  showy  palace.  I  was 
muttering  something  —  I  listened  to  myself.  It 
was :  "  Mulholland,  Mrs.  Mulholland  and  the  four 
little  Mulhollands."  And  I  felt  like  laughing 
aloud,  such  a  joke  was  it  that  I  should  be  envy 
ing  a  policeman  his  potato  patch  and  his  fat  wife 
and  his  four  brats,  and  that  he  should  be  in  a 
position  to  pity  me. 

You  may  be  imagining  that,  through  all,  Anita 
had  been  dominating  my  mind.  That  is  the  way 
it  is  in  the  romances;  but  not  in  life.  No  doubt 
there  are  men  who  brood  upon  the  impossible, 
and  moon  and  maunder  away  their  lives  over  the 
grave  of  a  dead  love;  no  doubt  there  are  people 
who  will  say  that,  because  I  did  not  shoot  Lang- 
don  or  her,  or  myself,  cr  fly  to  a  desert  or  pose 
in  the  crowded  places  of  the  world  as  the  last 
scene  of  a  tragedy,  I  therefore  cared  little  about 
her.  I  offer  them  this  suggestion :  A  man  strong 


"  BLAiCK  MATT'S  "  TRIUMPH  469 

enough  to  give  a  love  worth  a  woman's  while 
is  strong  enough  to  live  on  without  her  when  he 
finds  he  may  not  live  with  her. 

As  I  stood  there  that  summer  day,  looking  to 
ward  the  crest  of  the  hill,  at  the  mocking  mauso 
leum  of  my  dead  dream,  I  realized  what  the  in 
cessant  battle  of  the  Street  had  meant  to  me. 
"  There  is  peace  for  me  only  in  the  storm,"  said 
I.  "  But,  thank  God,  there  is  peace  for  me  some 
where." 

Through  the  foliage  I  had  glimpses  of  some 
one  coming  slowly  down  the  zigzag  path.  Pres 
ently,  at  one  of  the  turnings  half-way  up  the  hill, 
appeared  Mowbray  Langdon.  "  What  is  he  do 
ing  here,  "  thought  I,  scarcely  able  to  believe  my 
eyes.  "  Here  of  all  places !  "  And  then  I  forgot 
the  strangeness  of  his  being  at  Dawn  Hill  in  the 
strangeness  of  his  expression.  For  it  was  ap 
parent,  even  at  the  distance  which  separated  us, 
that  he  was  suffering  from  some  great  and  recent 
blow.  He  looked  old  and  haggard;  he  walked 
like  a  man  who  neither  knows  nor  cares  where  he 
is  going. 

He  had  not  seen  me,  and  my  impulse  was  to 
avoid  him  by  continuing  on  toward  the  kennels. 
I  had  no  especial  feeling  against  him;  I 


470  THE  DELUGE 

had  not  lost  Anita  because  she  cared  for  him 
or  he  for  her,  but  because  she  did  not  care  for 
me  —  simply  that  to  meet  would  be  awkward, 
disagreeable  for  us  both.  At  the  slight  noise  of 
my  movement  to  go  on,  he  halted,  glanced  round 
eagerly,  as  if  he  hoped  the  sound  had  been  made 
by  some  one  he  wished  to  see.  His  glance  fell 
on  me.  He  stopped  short,  was  for  an  instant  dis 
concerted;  then  his  face  lighted  up  with  devilish 
joy.  "You!  "he  cried.  "  Just  the  man !"  And 
he  descended  more  rapidly. 

At  first  I  could  make  nothing  of  this  remark. 
But  as  he  drew  nearer  and  nearer,  and  his  ugly 
mood  became  more  and  more  apparent,  I  felt  that 
he  was  looking  forward  to  provoking  me  into 
giving  him  a  distraction  from  whatever  was  tor 
menting  him,  I  waited.  A  few  minutes  and  we 
were  face  to  face,  I  outwardly  calm,  but  my  anger 
slowly  lighting  up  as  he  deliberately  applied  to  it 
the  torch  of  his  insolent  eyes.  He  was  wearing 
his  old  familiar  air  of  cynical  assurance.  Evi 
dently,  with  his  recovered  fortune,  he  had  recov 
ered  his  conviction  of  his  great  superiority  to  the 
rest  of  the  human  race  —  the  child  had  climbed 
back  on  the  chair  that  made  it  tall  and  had  forgot 
ten  its  tumble.  And  I  was  wondering  again  that 


BLA1CK  MATT'S  "  TRIUMPH 


471 


I,  so  short  a  time  before,  had  been  crude  enough 
to  be  fascinated  and  fooled  by  those  tawdry  pos- 
ings  and  pretenses.  For  the  man,  as  I  now  saw 
him,  was  obviously  shallow  and  vain,  a  slave  to 
those  poor  "  man-of- the- world  "  passions  —  osten 
tation  and  cynicism  and  skill  at  vices  old  as  man 
kind  and  tedious  as  a  treadmill,  the  commonplace 
routine  of  the  idle  and  foolish  and  purposeless.  A 
clever,  handsome  fellow,  but  the  more  pitiful  that 
he  was  by  nature  above  the  uses  to  which  he  pros 
tituted  himself. 

He  fought  hard  to  keep  his  eyes  steadily  on 
mine ;  but  they  would  waver  and  shift.  Not,  how 
ever,  before  I  had  found  deep  down  in  them  the 
beginnings  of  fear.  'You  see,  you  were  mis 
taken,"  said  I.  "  You  have  nothing  to  say  to  me 
—  or  I  to  you." 

He  knew  I  had  looked  straight  to  the  bottom 
of  his  real  self,  and  had  seen  the  coward  that  is  in 
every  man  who  has  been  bred  to  appearances  only. 
Up  rose  his  vanity,  the  coward's  substitute  for 
courage. 

"You  think  I  am  afraid  of  you?"  he 
sneered,  bluffing  and  blustering  like  the  school 
bully. 

"  I  don't  in  the  least  care  whether  you  are  or 


472  THE  DELUGE 

not,"  replied  I.  "  What  are  you  doing  here,  any 
how?" 

It  was  as  if  I  had  thrown  off  the  cover  of  a  fur 
nace.  "  I  came  to  get  the  woman  I  love,"  he 
cried.  "  You  stole  her  from  me !  You  tricked 
me !  But,  by  God,  Blacklock,  I'll  never  pause  un 
til  I  get  her  back  and  punish  you !  "  He  was  brave 
enough  now,  drunk  with  the  fumes  from  his  brave 
words.  "  All  my  life,"  he  raged  arrogantly  on, 
"  I've  had  whatever  I  wanted.  I've  let  nothing 
interfere  —  nothing  and  nobody.  I've  been  too 
forbearing  with  you  —  first,  because  I  knew  she 
could  never  care  for  you,  and,  then,  because  I 
rather  admired  your  pluck  and  impudence.  I  like 
to  see  fellows  kick  their  way  up  among  us  from 
the  common  people." 

I  put  my  hand  on  his  shoulder.  No  doubt  the 
fiend  that  rose  within  me,  as  from  the  dead, 
looked  at  him  from  my  eyes.  He  has  great  phys 
ical  strength,  but  he  winced  under  that  weight  and 
grip,  and  across  his  face  flitted  the  terror  that 
must  come  to  any  man  at  first  sense  of  being  in 
the  angry  clutch  of  one  stronger  than  he.  I  slow 
ly  released  him  —  I  had  tested  and  realized  my 
physical  superiority;  to  use  it  would  be  cheap 
and  cowardly. 


-  BLACK  MATT'S  "  TRIUMPH  473 

"  You  can't  provoke  me  to  descend  to  your 
level,"  said  I,  with  the  easy  philosophy  of  him 
who  clearly  has  the  better  of  the  argument. 

He  was  shaking  from  head  to  foot,  not  with 
terror,  but  with  impotent  rage.  How  much  we 
owe  to  accident!  The  mere  accident  of  my  phys 
ical  superiority  had  out  him  at  hopeless  disad 
vantage;  had  made  him  feel  inferior  to  me  as 
no  victory  of  mental  or  moral  superiority  could 
possibly  have  done.  And  I  myself  felt  a  greater 
contempt  for  him  than  the  discovery  of  his  treach 
ery  and  his  shallowness  had  together  inspired. 

"  I  shan't  indulge  in  flapdoodle,"  I  went  on. 
"  I'll  be  frank.  A  year  ago,  if  any  man  had  faced 
me  with  a  claim  upon  a  woman  who  was  married 
to  me,  I'd  probably  have  dealt  with  him  as  your 
vanity  and  what  you  call  '  honor '  would  force 
you  to  try  to  deal  with  a  similar  situation.  But 
I  live  to  learn,  and  I'm,  fortunately,  not  afraid 
to  follow  a  new  light.  There  is  the  vanity  of  so- 
called  honor;  there  is  also  the  demand  of  justice 
—  of  fair  play.  As  I  have  told  her,  so  I  now  tell 
you  —  she  is  free  to  go.  But  I  shall  say  one  thing 
to  you  that  I  did  not  say  to  her.  If  you  do  not 
deal  fairly  with  her,  I  shall  see  to  it  that  there  are 
ten  thorns  to  every  rose  in  that  bed  of  roses  on 


THE  DELUGE 

which  you  lie.  You  are  contemptible  in  many 
ways  —  perhaps  that's  why  women  like  you.  But 
there  must  be  some  good  in  you,  or  possibilities 
of  good,  or  you  could  not  have  won  and  kept  her 
love." 

He  was  staring  at  me  with  a  dazed  expression. 
I  rather  expected  him  to  show  some  of  that 
amused  contempt  with  which  men  of  his  sort 
always  receive  a  new  idea  that  is  beyond  the  range 
of  their  narrow,  conventional  minds.  For  I  did 
not  expect  him  to  understand  why  I  was  not  only 
willing,  but  even  eager,  to  relinquish  a  woman 
whom  I  could  hold  only  by  asserting  a  property 
right  in  her.  And  I  do  not  think  he  did  under 
stand  me,  though  his  manner  changed  to  a  sort 
of  grudging  respect.  He  was,  I  believe,  about  to 
make  some  impulsive,  generous  speech,  when  we 
heard  the  quick  strokes  of  iron-shod  hoofs  on  the 
path  from  the  kennels  and  the  stables  —  is  there 
any  sound  more  arresting?  Past  us  at  a  gallop 
swept  a  horse,  on  his  back  —  Anita.  She  was 
not  in  riding-habit;  the  wind  fluttered  the  sleeves 
of  her  blouse,  blew  her  uncovered  hair  this  way 
and  that  about  her  beautiful  face.  She  sped  on 
toward  the  landing,  though  I  fancied  she  had  seen 
us. 


HOW  THAT   HORRIBLE  FEAR  CHANGED  MY  WHOLE  WAY  OF  LOOKING  AT 
HER,   AT  HIM,  AT  EVERYTHING  !      Page  4?6 


«  BLAiCK  MATT'S  "  TRIUMPH  475 

Anita  at  Dawn  Hill  —  Eangdon,  in  a  furious 
temper,  descending  from  the  house  toward  the 
landing-  —  Anita  presently,  riding  like  mad  — "  to 
overtake  him,"  thought  I.  And  I  read  confirma 
tion  in  his  triumphant  eyes.  In  another  mood,  I 
suppose  my  fury  would  have  been  beyond  my 
power  to  restrain  it.  Just  then  —  the  day  grew 
dark  for  me,  and  I  wanted  to  hide  away  some 
where.  Heart-sick,  I  was  ashamed  for  her, 
hated  myself  for  having  blundered  into  surprising 
her. 

She  reappeared  at  the  turn  round  which  she  had 
vanished  I  now  noted  that  she  was  riding  with 
out  saddle  or  bridle,  with  only  a  halter  round  the 
horse's  neck  —  then  she  had  seen  us,  had  stopped 
and  come  back  as  soon  as  she  could.  She  dropped 
from  the  horse,  looked  swiftly  at  me,  at  him,  at 
me  again,  with  intense  anxiety. 

"  I  saw  your  yacht  in  the  harbor  only  a  mo 
ment  ago,"  she  said  to  me.  She  was  almost  pant 
ing.  "  I  feared  yon  might  meet  him.  So  I 


came." 


"As  you  see,  he  is  quite  —  intact,"  said  I. 
"  I  must  ask  that  you  and  he  leave  the  place  at 
once."  And  I  went  rapidly  along  the  path  toward 
the  kennels. 


THE  DELUGE 

An  exclamation  from  Langdon  forced  me  to 
turn  in  spite  of  myself.  He  was  half-kneeling, 
was  holding  her  in  his  arms.  At  that  sight,  the 
savage  in  me  shook  himself  free.  I  dashed  to 
ward  them  with  I  knew  not  what  curses  bursting 
from  me.  Langdon,  intent  upon  her,  did  not 
realize  until  I  sent  him  reeling  backward  to  the 
earth  and  snatched  her  up.  Her  white  face,  her 
closed  eyes,  her  limp  form  made  my  fury  instantly 
collapse.  In  my  confusion  I  thought  that  she  was 
dead.  I  laid  her  gently  on  the  grass  and  sup 
ported  her  head,  so  small,  so  gloriously  crowned, 
the  face  so  still  and  sweet  and  white,  like  the 
stainless  entrance  to  a  stainless  shrine.  How  that 
horrible  fear  changed  my  whole  way  of  looking 
at  her,  at  him,  at  her  and  him,  at  everything ! 

Her  eyelids  were  quivering  —  her  eyes  were 
opening  —  her  bosom  was  rising  and  falling 
slowly  as  she  drew  long,  uncertain  breaths.  She 
shuddered,  sat  up,  started  up.  "  Go !  go !  "  she 
cried.  "Bring  him  back!  Bring  him  back! 
Bring  him — " 

There  she  recognized  me.  "  Oh,"  she  said, 
and  gave  a  great  sigh  of  relief.  She  leaned 
against  a  tree  and  looked  at  Langdon.  "  You  are 
still  here?  Then  tell  him." 


"  BLAiCK  MATT S  "  TRIUMPH  477 

Langdon  gazed  sullenly  at  the  ground.  "  I 
can't,"  he  answered.  "  I  don't  believe  it.  Be 
sides  —  he  has  given  you  to  me.  Let  us  go.  Let 
me  take  you  to  the  Vivians."  He  threw  out  his 
arms  in  a  wild,  passionate  gesture ;  he  was  utterly 
unlike  himself.  His  emotion  burst  through  and 
shattered  pose  and  cynicism  and  hard  crust  of 
selfishness  like  the  exploding  powder  bursting  the 
shell.  "  I  can't  give  you  up,  Anita ! "  he  ex 
claimed  in  a  tone  of  utter  desperation.  "  I  can't ! 
I  can't!" 

But  her  gaze  was  all  this  time  steadily  on  me, 
as  if  she  feared  I  would  go,  should  she  look  away. 
"  I  will  tell  you  myself,"  she  said  rapidly,  to  me. 
"  We  —  uncle  Howard  and  I  —  read  in  the  pa 
pers  how  they  had  all  turned  against  you,  and  he 
brought  me  over  here.  He  has  been  telegraphing 
for  you.  This  morning  he  went  to  town  to 
search  for  you.  About  an  hour  ago  Langdon 
came.  I  refused  to  see  him,  as  I  have  ever  since 
the  time  I  told  you  about  at  Alva's.  He  persisted, 
until  at  last  I  had  the  servant  request  him  to  leave 
the  house." 

"  But  now  there's  no  longer  any  reason  for  your 
staying,  Anita,"  he  pleaded.  "  He  has  said  you 
are  free.  Why  stay  when  you  would  really  no 


478  THE  DELUGE 

more  He  here  than  if  you  were  to  go,  leaving  one 
of  your  empty  dresses  ?  " 

She  had  not  for  an  instant  taken  her  gaze 
from  me;  and  so  strange  were  her  eyes,  so  com 
pelling,  that  I  seemed  unable  to  move  or  speak. 
But  now  she  released  me  to  blaze  upon  him  — 
and  never  shall  I  forget  any  detail  of  her  face  or 
voice  as  she  said  to  him :  "  That  is  false,  Mow- 
bray  Langdon.  I  told  you  the  truth  when  I  told 
you  I  loved  him !  " 

So  violent  was  her  emotion  that  she  had  to 
pause  for  self-control.  And  I?  I  was  over 
whelmed,  dazed,  stunned.  When  she  went  on, 
she  was  looking  at  neither  of  us.  "  Yes,  I  loved 
him,  almost  from  the  first  —  from  the  day  he 
came  to  the  box  at  the  races.  I  was  ashamed, 
poor  creature  that  my  parents  had  made  me!  I 
was  ashamed  of  it.  And  I  tried  to  hate  him,  and 
thought  I  did.  And  when  he  showed  me  that 
he  no  longer  cared,  my  pride  goaded  me  into  the 
folly  of  trying  to  listen  to  you.  But  I  loved  him 
more  than  ever.  And  as  you  and  he  stand  here, 
I  am  ashamed  again  —  ashamed  that  I  was  ever 
so  blind  and  ignorant  and  prejudiced  as  to  com 
pare  him  with  " —  she  looked  at  Langdon  — 
"  with  you.  Do  you  believe  me  now  —  now  that 


BLACK  MATT'S  "  TRIUMPH 


479 


I  humble  myself  before  him  here  in  your  pres 
ence?" 

I  should  have  had  no  heart  at  all  if  I  had  not 
felt  pity  for  him,  His  face  was  gray,  and  on  it 
were  those  signs  of  age  that  strong  emotion  brings 
to  the  surface  after  forty.  "  You  Could  have  con 
vinced  me  in  no  other  way,"  he  replied,  after  a 
silence,  and  in  a  voice  I  should  not  have  recog 
nized. 

Silence  again.  Presently  he  raised  his  head, 
and  with  something  of  his  old  cynicism  bowed  to 
her. 

"  You  have  avenged  much  and  many,"  said 
he.  "  I  have  often  had  a  presentiment  that  my 
day  of  wrath  would  come." 

He  lifted  his  hat,  bowed  to  me  without  looking 
at  me,  and,  drawing  the  tatters  of  his  pose  still 
further  over  his  wounds,  moved  away  toward 
the  landing, 

I,  still  in  a  stupor,  watched  him  until  he  had 
disappeared.  When  I  turned  to  her,  she  dropped 
her  eyes.  "  Uncle  Howard  will  be  back  this  after 
noon,"  said  she.  "  If  I  may,  I'll  stay  at  the  house 
until  he  comes  to  take  me." 

A  weary,  half-suppressed  sigh  escaped  from 
her.  I  knew  how  she  must  be  reading  my  silence, 


480  THE  DELUGE 

but  I  was  still  unable  to  speak.  She  went  to  the 
horse,  browsing  near  by;  she  stroked  his  muzzle. 
Lingeringly  she  twined  her  ringers  in  his  mane, 
as  if  about  to  spring  to  his  back !  That  reminded 
me  of  a  thousand  and  one  changes  in  her  —  little 
changes,  each  a  trifle  in  itself,  yet,  taken  all  to 
gether,  making  a  complete  transformation. 

"  Let  me  help  you,"  I  managed  to  say.  And  I 
bent,  and  made  a  step  of  my  hand. 

She  touched  her  fingers  to  my  shoulder,  set  her 
narrow,  graceful  foot  upon  my  palm.  But  she 
did  not  rise.  I  glanced  up ;  she  was  gazing  wist 
fully  down  at  me. 

"  Women  have  to  learn  by  experience  just  as 
do  men/'  said  she  forlornly.  "  Yet  men  will  not 
tolerate  it." 

I  suppose  I  must  suddenly  have  looked  what 
I  was  unable  to  put  into  words  —  for  her  eyes 
grew  very  wide,  and,  with  a  cry  that  was  a  sigh 
and  a  sob,  and  a  laugh  and  a  caress  all  in  one,  she 
slid  into  my  arms  and  her  face  was  burning 
against  mine. 

"  Do  you  remember  the  night  at  the  theater," 
she  murmured,  "  when  your  lips  almost  touched 
my  neck?  —  I  loved  you  then  —  Black  Matt  — 
Black  Matt!" 


"BLACK  MATT'S"  TRIUMPH  481 

And  I  found  voice;  and  the  horse  wandered 
away. 

What  more? 

How  Langdori  eased  his  pain  and  soothed  his 
vanity?  Whenever  an  old  Babylonian  nobleman 
had  a  misfortune,  he  used  to  order  all  his  slaves 
to  be  lashed,  that  their  shrieks  and  moans  might 
join  his  in  appeasing  the  god  who  was  punishing 
him.  Langdon  went  back  to  Wall  Street,  and  for 
months  he  made  all  within  his  power  suffer ;  in  his 
fury  he  smashed  fortunes,  lowered  wages,  raised 
prices,  reveled  in  the  blasts  of  a  storm  of  impotent 
curses.  But  you  do  not  care  to  hear  about  that. 

As  for  myself,  what  could  I  tell  that  you  do 
not  know  or  guess?  Now  that  all  men,  even  the 
rich,  even  the  parasites  of  the  bandits,  groan 
under  their  tyranny  and  their  taxes,  is  it  strange 
that  the  resentment  against  me  has  disappeared, 
that  my  warnings  are  remembered,  that  I  am  pop 
ular?  I  might  forecast  what  I  purpose  to  do 
when  the  time  is  ripe.  But  I  am  not  given  to 
prophecy.  I  will  only  say  that  I  think  I  shall,  in 
due  season,  go  into  action  again  —  profiting  by 
my  experience  in  the  futility  of  trying  to  hasten 
evolution  by;  revolution.  Meanwhile  — 


THE  DELUGE 


[As  I  write,  I  can  look  up  from  the  paper,  and 
out  upon  the  lawn,  at  a  woman  —  what  a  woman ! 
« — •  teaching  a  baby  to  walk.  And,  assisting  her, 
there  is  a  boy,  himself  not  yet  an  expert  at  walk 
ing1,  I  doubt  if  you'd  have  to  glance  twice  at  that 
boy  to  know  he  is  my  son*  Well  —  I  have  bor 
rowed  a  leaf  from  Mulholland's  philosophy.  I 
commend  it  to  you. 


THE  EOT 


BREWSTER'S  c  MILLIONS 

BY 

GEORGE    BARR    McCUTCHEON 


hero  is  a  young  New  Yorker  of  good  parts  who, 
to  save  an  inheritance  of  seven  millions,  starts  out  to 
spend  a  fortune  of  one  million  within  a  year.  An  eccen 
tric  uncle,  ignorant  of  the  earlier  legacy,  leaves  him 
•even  millions  to  be  delivered  at  the  expiration  of  a  year, 
on  the  condition  that  at  that  time  he  is  penniless,  and 
has  proven  himself  a  capable  business  man,  able  to 
manage  his  own  afiairs.  The  problem  that  confronts 
Brewster  is  to  spend  his  legacy  without  proving  himself 
either  reckless  or  dissipated.  He  has  ideas  about  the  dig- 
position  of  the  seven  millions  which  are  not  those  of  the 
uncle  when  he  tried  to  supply  an  alternative  in  case  the 
nephew  failed  him.  His  adventures  in  pursuit  of  poverty 
are  decidedly  of  an  unusual  kind,  and  his  disappoint 
ments  are  funny  in  quite  a  new  way.  The  situation  k 
developed  with  an  immense  amount  of  humor. 


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NOVELS    BY   JACK    LONDON 

1 2 MO.,   CLOTH,   75    CENTS  EACH,.  POSTPAID 

THE   CALL  OF   THE  WILD 

With  Illustrations  by  Philip  R.  Goodwin  and  Charles  Livingston  Bull 
Decorated  by  Charles  Edward  Hopper 

"A  tale  that  is  literature  .  .  .  the  unity  of  its  plan 
«nd  the  firmness  of  its  execution  are  equally  remarkable 
...  a  story  that  grips  the  reader  deeply.  It  is  ait,  it 

is  literature.  » It  stands  apart,  far  apart  with 

so  much  skill,  so  much  reasonableness,  so  much  convinc 
ing  logic." — N.  T.  Mail  and  Express. 

"A  big  story  in  sober  English,  and  with  thorough  art 
in  the  construction  .  .  .  a  wonderfully  perfect  bit  of 
work.  The  dog  adventures  are  as  exciting  as  any  man's 
exploits  could  be,  and  Mr.  London's  workmanship  is 
wholly  satisfying." — The  New  York  Sun. 

«'  The  story  is  one  that  will  stir  the  blood  of  every 
lover  of  a  life  in  its  closest  relation  to  nature.  Whoever 
loves  the  open  or  adventure  for  its  own  sake  wiil  find 
«The  Call  of  the  Wild*  a  most  fascinating  book." — 
The  Brooklyn  Eagle. 

THE   SEA   WOLF 

Illustrated  by  W.  J.   Aylward 

„  «« This  story  surely  has  the  pure  Stevenson  ring,  the 
adventurous  glamour,  the  vertebrate  stoicitm.  'Tis  surely 
:the  story  of  the  making  of  a  man,  the  sculptor  being 
Captain  Larsen,  and  the  clay,  the  ease-loving,  well-to-do, 
half-drowned  man,  to  all  appearances  his  helpless  prey. ' ' 
— -Critic: 
r  --  - 

GROSSET    &    DUNLAP,     NEW  YORK 


NEW  POPULAR  EDITIONS  OF 

MARY  JOHNSTON'S 
NOVELS 

TO  HAVE  AND  TO  HOLD 

..It  was  something  new  and  startling  to  see  an  au 
thor's  first  novel  sell  up  into  the  hundreds  of  thou 
sands,  as  did  this  one.  The  ablest  critics  spoke  of 
it  in  such  terms  as  "  Breathless  interest,"  The  high, 
water  mark  of  American  fiction  since  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  "  Surpasses  all,"  "  Without  a  rival,"  "Ten 
der  and  delicate,"  "  As  good  a  story  of  adventure  as 
one  can  find,"  "  The  best  style  of  love  story,  clean, 
pure  and  wholesome." 
AUDREY 

^JWith  the  brilliant  imagination  and  the  splendid 
courage  of  youth,  she  has  stormed  the  very  citadel 
of  adventure.  Indeed  it  would  be  impossible  to 
carry  the  romantic  spirit  any  deeper  into  fiction. — 
Agnes  Repplier* 

PRISONERS  OF  HOPE 

I.  Pronounced  by  the  critics  classical,  accurate,  inter 
esting,  American,  original,  vigorous,  lull  of  move 
ment  and  life,  dramatic  and  fascinating,  instinct  with 
life  and  passion,  and  preserving  throughout  a  singu 
larly  even  level  ot  excellence. 

Each  volume  handsomely  bound  in  cloth.      Large 
12  mo.  size.    Pnce,  75  cents  per  volume,  postpaid. 

GEOSSET    &    DUNLAP,    PUBLISHERS 
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GET    THE  BEST  OUT-DOOR    STORIES 

Steward    Edward    White's 

Great  Novels  of  Western  Life. 

GROSSET  &  DUNLAP  EDITIONS 
THE  BLAZED  TRAIL 

Mingles  the  romance  of  the  forest  with  the  romance  of 
man's  heart,  making  a  story  that  is  big  and  elemental,  while 
not  lacking  in  sweetness  and  tenderness.  It  is  an  epic  of  the 
life  of  the  lumbermen  of  the  great  forest  of  the  Northwest, 
permeated  by  out  of  door  freshness,  and  the  glory  of  the 
struggle  with  nature. 

THE  SILENT  PLACES 

A  powerful  story  of  strenuous  endeavor  and  fateful  priva 
tion  in  the  frozen  North,  embodying  also  a  detective  story  of 
much  strength  and  skill.  The  author  brings  out  with  sure 
touch  and  deep  understanding  the  mystery  and  poetry  of  the 
still,  frost-bound  forest. 

THE  CLAIM  JUMPERS 

A  tale  of  a  Western  mining  camp  and  the  making  of  a  man, 
•with  which  a  charming  young  lady  has  much  to  do.  The 
tenderfoot  has  a  hard  time  of  it,  but  meets  the  situation, 
shows  the  stuff  he  is  made  of,  and  "  wins  out." 

THE  WESTERNERS 

A  tale  of  the  mining  camp  and  the  Indian  country,  full  of 
color  and  thrilling  incident. 

THE  MAGIC  FOREST:    A  Modern  Fairy  Story. 

"  No  better  book  could  be  put  in  a  young  boy's  hands," 
says  the  New  York  Sun.  It  is  a  happy  blend  of  knowledge 
of  wood  life  with  an  understanding  of  Indian  character,  as 
well  as  that  of  small  boys. 

Each  volume  handsomely  bound  in  cloth.  Price,  seventy- 
five  cents  per  volume,  postpaid. 

GBOSSET    &    DUNLAP,    PUBLISHERS 
f  52  DUANE  STREET  ::          NEW  YORK 


THE    GROSSET  6*   DUNLAP  EDITIONS 
OF  STANDARD  WORKS 

A    FULL   AND    COMPLETE     EDITION     OF 

TENNYSON'S  POEMS. 

Containing  all  the  Poems  issued  under  the  protection 
of  copyright.  Cloth  bound,  small  8  vo.  882  pages, 
with  index  to  first  lines.  Price,  postpaid,  seventy-five 
cents.  The  same,  bound  in  three-quarter  morocco,  gilt 
top,  $2.50,  postpaid. 

THE  MOTHER  OF  WASHINGTON  AND  HER 
TIMES,    by  Mrs.  Roger  A.  Pryor. 

The  brilliant  social  life  of  the  time  passes  before 
the  reader,  packed  full  of  curious  and  delightful  in 
formation.  More  kinds  of  interest  enter  into  it  than 
into  any  other  volume  on  Colonial  Virginia.  Sixty 
illustrations.  Price,  seventy-five  cents,  postpaid. 

SHAKESPEARE'S  ENGLAND,  by  William  Winter 

A  record  of  rambles  in  England,  relating  largely 
to  Warwickshire  and  depicting  not  so  much  the  Eng 
land  of  fact,  as  the  England  created  and  hallowed 
by  the  spirit  of  her  poetry,  of  which  Shakespeare  is 
the  soul.  Profusely  illustrated.  Price,  seventy-five 
cents,  postpaid. 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT  THE  CITIZEN,  by 
Jacob  A.   Riis. 

Should  be  read  by  every  man  and  boy  in  America. 
Because  it  sets  forth  an  ideal  of  American  Citizen 
ship.  An  Inspired  Biography  by  one  who  knows 
him  best,  A  large,  handsomely  illustrated  cloth 
bound  book.  Price,  postpaid,  seventy-five  cents. 

GEOSSET    &    DUNLAP,    PUBLISHERS 
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THE  GROSSET  AND  DUNLAP  SPECIAL 

EDITIONS  OF  POPULAR  NO  VELS  THAT 

HAVE  BEEN  DRAMATIZED. 

BREWSTER'S    MILLIONS:      By    George   Barr 

McCutcheon. 

A  clever,  fascinating  tale,  with  a  striking  and  un 
usual  plot.  With  illustrations  from  the  original  New 
York  production  of  the  play. 

THE  LITTLE  MINISTER :    By  J.  M.  Barrie. 

With  illustrations  from  the  play  as  presented  by 
Maude  Adams,  and  a  vignette  in  gold  of  Miss  Adams 
on  the  cover. 

CHECKERS :    By  Henry  M.  Blossom,  Jr. 

A  story  of  the  Race  Track.  Illustrated  with  scenes 
from  the  play  as  originally  presented  in  New  York 
by  Thomas  W.  Ross  who  created  the  stage  character. 

THE  CHRISTIAN :    By  Hall  Caine. 
THE  ETERNAL  CITY :     By  Hall  Caine. 

Each  has  been  elaborately  and  successfully  staged. 

IN  THE  PALACE  OF  THE  KING:    By  F.  Marion 
Crawford. 

A  love  story  of  Old  Madrid,  with  full  page  illustra 
tions.     Originally  played  with  great  success  by  Viola 
Allen. 
JANICE  MEREDITH :    By  Paul  Leicester  Ford. 

New  edition  with  an  especially  attractive  cover, 
a  really  handsome  book.  Originally  played  by  Mary 
Mannering,  who  created  the  title  role. 

These  books  are  handsomely  bound  in  cloth,  are 
well-made  in  every  respect,  and  aside  from  their  un 
usual  merit  as  stories,  are  particularly  interesting  to 
those  who  like  things  theatrical.  Price,  postpaid, 
seventy-five  cents  each. 

GEOSSET    &    DUNLAP,    PUBLISHEBS 
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